Defending Lies
by nekologic
Summary: After defending Draco against a couple of Hogwart bullies, Draco offers Hermione a favor to repay her. When Hermione finds out about Ron and Lavender, Hermione decides to take Draco up on his offer and use him to defend her lies to Ron about moving on.
1. Unexpected Meeting

FULL SUMMARY: Hermoine comes across Draco being bullied by a few other Hogwart students. After standing up for him and quickly leaving when Draco shows how completely ungrateful he is, Draco seeks out Hermione and tells her that he'll somehow pay her back, and that she can come to him when she thinks of something. This all occurs before Hermione finds out Ron's chosen some other girl over her. She might just take Draco up on his offer, and use him to cover her lies of moving on, and make Ron jealous. He said anything right?

Wow, I usually write fanfics for anime. I'm writing one about Harry Potter, yay! :D k, so I'm totally in love with Dramione. I watched the last Harry Potter movie and afterwards realized I never watched the first ones. Only like one or two, but not the whole series. Sooo, I downloaded the movies and seriously, DRACO MALFOY. 'NUFF SAID, MK .

In this story, Draco and Hermione are 15. Okay, I know they're a bit young for lemons (if i even decide to put any) but honestly, I know that kids expierment at this age. Don't flame. Also, let's pretend Ron met Lavender already and [SPOILER] Draco's not a death eater. He's just a jerk and a bully, okay. Also, Draco looks like he did in the goblet of fire, you don't really have to go look at him in the movie, I'll write sometimes that his hair is gel'd back or just combed to the side so you get the idea of what his hair looks like. Hermoine, just looks like herself because she doesn't really change LOL. Also, some OOC in this story, mostly on Draco's part. But really, we can't get him and Hermione to fall in love if he always acts like a douche bag, can we? enjoy (:

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><p><span>Chapter One<span>

Hermione walked down the quiet hallway. She gazed up at the walls, the dark night sky pouring in through the grand windows lining her path. The peaceful scenery bringing her into her tired mind, and stirring her thoughts.

She had just returned from detention, detention for nothing, it seemed. The only thing she had done was be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Served her right though, for hanging out with Harry and Ron when they were planning to sneak out of the dorms and practice spells. Spells from the book they wanted to borrow from Hermione, who _had_ to sneak out as well so she could give the book to them.

She was just about to leave but Ron wasted no time in trying out a spell and of course, failed and caused an explosion, along with a loud sound which brought Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore front and center in no time.

Just as expected, detention was served, to all _three _of them. For disturbing the peace and being out of their dorms after the school hours. Well, at least she was guilty for being out of her dorm room. Not a completely unfair accusation. Guess that's what she got for being nice, and doing a favor for Harry and Ron.

'_That is the last time I help Ron and Harry in their shenanigans.' _She mentally agreed, sighing loudly and continuing her walk to the Gryffindor dorms. She was about to round a corner to get to the forever changing stairs. She was just ready to go to sleep, and forget about detention. Besides, it _was_her last day, after serving it for three days.

As soon as she rounded the corner, she looked up and immediately her eyes widened at an unexpected scene and she quickly and quietly walked backwards, ducking behind the edge. She pressed her back up against the wall, sliding against it and peeking around the corner.

Three boys, wearing Gryffindor colored ties and robes surrounded one boy. Hermione peeked out further and saw in a crack between the boys that it was a Slytherin, due to the dark green material showing underneath the dark black robe. More specifically, bright blonde hair told her it was none other than Draco Malfoy. He seemed to be the only one strutting about Hogwarts these days with _that _shade of blonde hair.

Something was off though. Draco seemed to be cornered by _only_ three boys, one of his left and one on his right. The other boy directly in front of him. She was sure Draco wasn't so weak as to be a victim to bullies. This was a Malfoy. Definition, a conceited jerk who bullied people for a living. _Never _a victim himself to bullies.

"Give me my wand back!" Draco demanded, jumping up in order to grasp it from the boy in front of him. The Gryffindor boy lifted it higher, just high enough for the Slytherin to miss it.

It wasn't that Draco was too short. Actually, he was the same height as Ron and Harry, possibly a few inches taller. These three were obviously older and unbelievable big, and Draco's wand was _just_out of his reach.

"My father will hear about this!" He hissed at the boy, shifting his glare and looking him straight in the eye.

'_That's why he can't defend himself. They took his wand._' Hermione thought. Weird though, they must've caught him off guard. There was no way they could've taken it by force. That boy would've glared them down and scared them off before they could get within ten feet of him.

The boys started laughing, obviously unafraid now. The one on his left stepped in closer, causing Draco to slink into the wall.

"What are you going to tell your father? That you got your 'oh so mighty', purebred self beaten to a pulp?" He asked, laughing.

Hermione pulled back, pressing her back against the wall and pondered whether to do something or just watch. She knew damn well that that rotten Malfoy deserved this but on the other hand; she didn't exactly enjoy watching her own 'kind' stoop so low. She slowly reached into the pocket of her robe, pulling out her wand quietly. She slowly peeked back around the corner.

"So much tough talk, yet you can't do a damn thing when your precious wand is taken." The boy on the right said. He smirked, and then broke into laughter. The one in front of him shook Draco's wand above his head. Draco grimaced, glaring at the boy in front of him again.

Hermione couldn't take this. Even if Draco _was_a jerk all the time and deserved this, she still didn't like it. In a way, as much as she hated to admit it, she and Draco were sort of alike. She could probably scare people with her threats, but without her wand she was almost as helpless. Of course, she did know how to use her fists. She demonstrated so on Malfoy's face.

She carefully pointed her wand at the boy holding Draco's wand and casted her spell.

"Laconum Inflamare!" She whispered fiercely.

Much like when she used it on Professor Snape, a burst of fire landed on the boy's robe. First small, then growing until the boy turned around and noticed his robe on fire.

He yelled, dropping Draco's wand and running in circles for some time. Hermione actually began laughing quietly. The boy didn't seem so tough now. She watched as the three ran down the opposite end of the corridor, disappearing behind a corner. Their yells of fright echoing after them and reaching her giggling and _very _amused self.

She looked back at Draco who was bent down, picking up his wand. She shook the laughter and grins off her face and proudly walked out from behind the corner, stopping a few feet from Draco. When he stood back up and saw her smiling face, his eyes widened and he pulled out his wand, pointing it at her.

She took a step back and stared unbelievably at the Slytherin. Hermione's brow's furrowed, her cheerful smile disappearing.

"Some thanks!" She shouted, glaring him down. "I just got that back for you!"

Draco stiffly put his wand down, shoving it into his pocket. His menacing glare still stayed put, which Hermione could understand. He _did _just get attacked by Gryffindors, much like herself.

"Are you alright?" She asked; worry growing as soon as Draco put his wand away. She completely forgot he was her enemy, and began searching his pale face for scratches or blood, looking him up and down looking for any sign of harm. She reached out to him with one hand.

"What's it to you?" Draco snapped at her. Hermione drew her hand back quickly, her body rumbling at the echo that bounced off the empty hallway.

"Shouldn't you be assisting your fellow house mates?" He grimaced at her, nodding his head towards where the fellow Gryffindor students disappeared to moments ago.

She took a step towards him, infuriated that he was treating her as such when she did just save him.

"In case you didn't know, _Malfoy_." She spat at him. "Just because you don't like me, doesn't mean I don't like you."

Draco's face went blank. So did Hermione's. She definitely didn't mean for it to come out like that. She fumbled with her words, shaking her head.

"I mean, I _do _dislike you!" She hissed. "But I'm not going to stand by while you're being treated like that. Even if you do deserve it, which you do." She informed.

"I just saved you. I got you your wand back. 'Thanks' would be appreciated."

Draco still glared at her. He didn't seem the least bit grateful. He backed up from her, dusting his robes off.

"I didn't need or ask for your help." He held his head high.

Hermione bit her lip, shaking her head in disbelief.

"No wonder people hate you." She said quietly.

"You're so vile and ungrateful!" She yelled.

"Back off, mudblood!" Draco yelled louder.

Hermione's mouth closed immediately. The silence seeming to grow so loud. The only noise being the loud echo that flooded Hermione's ears.

She couldn't say anything, too shocked and hurt and _offended _to utter a single word. Her eyes locked onto angry, grey blue ones.

She backed up, blinking, not breaking eye contact.

'_No one asked for your opinion. You filthy little mudblood.'_She heard the phrase once again.

The last time someone had called her a mudblood was by the same person, when she was twelve. She had cried her eyes out when Draco called her a mudblood, but that was the last time she cried.

Now, hearing it again, in that tone. Now fifteen. By the same person.

She looked down, blinking furiously. As much as she tried, she couldn't help the tear that fell down her cheek. Why was she crying? She was so sure that the term didn't hurt her anymore.

The reason it hurt her the first time was because she was so young and hearing the awful term for the first time, being directed at her, hurt her feelings. Now, she was used to it. It didn't seem so bad now.

Still, she found herself crying, staring at the ground instead of sneering at Draco like she wanted to. She wanted to look up at Draco, punch him again. Smirk at him, act like it didn't hurt her at all. Not break down in front of him, and cry.

Footsteps sounded and she could see that Draco had stepped away from her and turned his head around to see who was coming.

"Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger, what are you doing here? Detention hours ended a while ago." It was professor McGonagall. Not her again. She was the reason she was here in the first place.

"Go to your dorm rooms now. Quickly, and I won't give out detention." She said.

Hermione sniffed in, trying to clear her face so that when she looked up, she could fool McGonagall. Not Malfoy, because she was sure he already knew she had started crying. Standing silently as she cried, no doubt he knew she was bawling her eyes out.

She failed, and knew it as soon as she sniffled. It was loud and scratchy not gentle and quiet like she had wanted.

"Ms. Granger, are you okay?" Sure enough, Professor McGonagall asked.

Hermione looked up, not trying to hide anymore. Her eye's met with Draco's before she turned away.

"I'm fine." She lied. Even though the evidence was in her voice, _on her face_, she still lied.

As soon as she spoke, she broke into a brisk walk, making her way down the hall, heading for her dorm. She wondered if Draco was staring at her right now. She wondered what he thought about her now.

She turned her head around, desperate to see the look on his face. As soon as she turned, she noticed Professor McGonagall was gone and Draco was well on his way down the opposite hallway.

Just then, Draco turned around as well and they made faraway eye contact. For the couple of seconds that it lasted, Hermione swore it was guilt she saw in his eyes.

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><p>review please?<p> 


	2. The Favor

Also, thought I should mention now that in this story, there will be no Harry Potter story line. Like, there's no goblet of fire or Voldemort. This story is going to be focused on Draco and Hermione so yeah, I don't want to get messages and reviews like "Oh, Draco's a death eater and Lavender is in the half blood prince, and Draco's evil and blah blah blah". NO. Okay, this is explaining that the story is going to be a biiiiiit different than the actually story, but still it will be for the most part going along with the movies and how the characters act.

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><p><span>Chapter Two<span>

"Hermione?"

Hermione jumped, looking around the Hogwart's library before finally letting her eyes settle on Ron's worried face, directly in front of her. She looked around him, seeing Harry turned around and looking at a book shelf, his hands moving over the spines of the many books.

"You were idly staring into space." Ron said, he pulled out a seat across from her and sat down. She looked back at him.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

Hermione cleared her throat, scooting her chair in and looking down at the book she had opened in front of her. She shook her head gently, in a care free manner.

"Yeah, just thinking, that's all." She said.

"About?" Ron asked, crossing his arms over the table. Harry sat down beside Ron with a couple of books; Hermione read the titles, seeing they were looking at spell books again, probably resorted to Hogwart's library sources since they already knew she wasn't going to help them anymore since she got detention for it for the first time.

Hermione lifted up her book, showing Ron the title of her book and pursing her lips, looking down and away from his eyes in order to not let Ron see that she was lying about what she was really thinking about. Ron squinted at the title, then nodded and changed his attention to Harry, taking one of his books and opening it.

Hermione let out a silent sigh of relief and then looked back down at her book, dropping it on the table and trying to look like she was interested in her book so Ron wouldn't call her out again.

The truth was, she was trying really hard to get her mind off of her recent meeting with Draco.

Of course, no luck. Even Ron saw she wasn't at all interested in the book she had, instead thinking about Draco, doing the thing she was trying not to do.

Last night, after she had returned to her dorm room, she broke into tears. So dramatic and frivolous and unnecessarily loud that she woke up Ginny, Parvati, and Lavender, who she shared the room with.

Last night, they had tried asking her why she was so upset but she couldn't bring herself to repeat what had happened, all she wanted was to forget it even took place. She was so_ humiliated_, so she just kept her mouth shut.

She knew they were talking about it this morning while they were getting ready for their classes; she heard them while she over slept. Even so, she had overheard that they couldn't come up with anything. She was surprised that Ron and Harry weren't told about it, and even if they did, they didn't let on to her that they knew anything.

She shut her book, sighing and putting her face in her hands, resting her elbows on top of the book.

She had come to the library after her classes to get her head wrapped around something other than Malfoy. Unfortunately, it wasn't working. His crude, voice seemed to shatter every brain cell in her head. Her hands covering her face, tightened into fists.

"We're going to check out Hermione, are you done here?" Harry asked, looking at her with her fists clenched over her face. She dropped her hands.

"I've still got a few things to take care of here." She lied. She actually wanted to stay just a bit longer, and enjoy the crippling silence that gave her way too many opportunities to think.

"Dinner starts in about twenty minutes, so I'll just meet you there." She said, giving a smile to Ron and Harry. They nodded and stood up. She watched their retreating backs before looking back at the closed book in front of her.

"You don't mind lavender sitting with us at dinner, do you Harry?"

Hermione's smile dropped and she looked back at Harry and Ron. She strained to hear their conversation as they walked to the doors that lead in and out of the library.

"No, of course not." Harry answered. She saw Ron turn to Harry, with a smile.

"You think me and Lavender's relationship will last long?" Ron asked just before the door behind them closed and they were gone from Hermione's sight.

She stared at the door, her mind completely blank for a short moment.

'_Lavender… Brown?_' She asked herself. '_Relationship?_'

Her face fell.

This was not what she needed, not at all. Why was Ron all of a sudden interested in Lavender Brown of all people? Besides, didn't he know that she…? Didn't he know she loved him?

Hermione bit her lip, resting her head on a fist, still staring at the door. Her eyes watered but she would not let herself cry. She bit her lip harder, until the urge to cry faded out with the pain.

Since when did Ron and Lavender become a 'thing'? Why was she not aware? Did this just happen recently? God, even Harry knew that Hermione was in love with Ron, how come Ron himself couldn't see it?

She was drawn out of her thoughts by the movement of the door she was idly staring at. Her vision cleared but as soon as it did, she wished it didn't. One terrible thing upon another, more things she didn't need at the moment.

Draco Malfoy and his clan of heartless jerks, entering the library.

She suddenly wished she had gone with Ron and Harry but the thought of Lavender Brown resurfaced and it made her want to vomit.

She thought for a moment, what was worse; being in the same room as the pure bred jerk who was so good at making her cry or hanging out with her so called 'best friend' who she just happened to be in love with, talking about his brand new girlfriend with the same name as her new least favorite colors?

Hermione realized she had been staring too long and when she realized, she made direct eye contact with Draco. She immediately turned the opposite way and shifted in her chair, feeling uncomfortable. She knew her actions weren't nonchalant looking, and was sure Draco saw right through her.

She turned back to the table and re-opened her book, trying to focus on it again. As she started to read the words, she felt herself relaxing into her seat.

She didn't feel so uncomfortable anymore. She didn't think about what she'd do at dinner which was in about fifteen minutes. She didn't think about Malfoy and his way with hurtful words.

She focused harder on the words, reading each line, thinking hard about each word that she comprehended. Looking at the pictures provided, looking at their colors, studying what the old pictures were showing.

Someone sat across from her, but she didn't pay any attention. She turned the page, listening to the creaking of the old pages, feeling her fingers holding the book up by the old, leather spine.

She felt the person across from her lean forward and she heard the creak of the table. Her curiosity spiked ridiculously high and she couldn't take it anymore, so much it broke her out of her concentration. Her hands went to the end of the book and she slowly and quietly lowered it.

Just as it was low enough, she looked over it and at the person sitting across from her.

'_What the hell._'

Draco Malfoy was sitting across from her, staring directly at her, a blank stare on his face. He looked almost bored. Actually he had an expression that Hermione couldn't exactly identify, it was weird.

She slowly looked around, seeing that Crabb and Goyle weren't in sight. Her eyes went back to Draco, still staring at her. She put down her book.

"Can I help you?" She asked quietly. When she got no answer, only a shift in Draco's eyes, she stood up, taking her book with her. She began to walk away but she stopped when he spoke.

"Hold it, Granger. I have something to say." He demanded.

Hermione turned back around, hesitating before making her way back to her seat. She slowly pulled the seat back out and sat back down, scooting her chair closer to the table and resting her hands on the table.

She waited patiently for Draco to speak. Inside, she felt like she shouldn't give him the time of the day after what he had said to her, but she saw something was wrong with him and really, she was quite curious as to why he actually wanted to talk to her and was acting like this.

After a moment of silence, he finally spoke.

"I know this is _very _unlike me and really, I don't understand why I'm wasting my time doing this because I know you probably won't care, but…" He trailed off.

Hermione's eyebrow lifted as she looked at Draco. He was looking down at the table, his face contorting like he was disgusted. He opened his mouth and gritted his teeth.

"But thanks for yesterday night." He mumbled.

Hermione waited for a minute, doubting her sanity and his as well. Who was this person and _what_did he do with the Malfoy who hated her and her dirty blood? Was this a joke? A test? Couldn't be. He was _not _this good at acting. What would he benefit from this?

She saw Draco look up and she saw his face trying to identify the emotions on her face. She couldn't seem to understand herself.

She was shocked, but she wasn't angry shocked. More like, grateful shocked, happy shocked. This wasn't a joke; it was Draco, being genuinely _mature_.

A small smile broke out on her face.

It felt like what happened yesterday didn't even matter. It was weird, that Draco was thanking her, and really it wasn't that much of a thanks, seeing as he looked regretful and angry the whole time he mumbled the words, but it was nice to see that underneath all of the mean things he did, he was also capable of being nice.

"Uh, you're welcome." She managed to say, smiling. She saw Draco's eyes and face soften.

"Also, I kind of, lost control when I called you a…" He stopped, unsure of what to say.

"What I called you yesterday." He decided not to mention it again, Hermione was thankful.

Her smile dropped and she comprehended what he was saying.

Did Draco regret making her cry? This was different.

"So I'm going to make it up to you." He said, wrinkling his nose, his eyes going elsewhere than meeting hers.

"I'll do you a favor." He said.

She froze. She was suspicious again. He didn't need to go _that _far.

"I do _not _like being in debt to anyone." He gritted the words out.

She blinked a few times, exhaling slowly.

"Okay. But, what favor?" She asked, still skeptical about what he was saying.

Draco suddenly stood up, sighing. He leaned forward, his palms on the table, looking straight into her eyes. It made Hermione shiver, his stormy eyes penetrating her. She moved back a little.

"I don't know." He said bluntly. "Think of something and I'll do it. Just come find me or something."

He then stood up straight and walked off, without looking back.

Hermione watched him walk away. It was odd, the conversation they just had, if it was even called that. She swore they made more eye contact than actually communicated. It was so unlike Draco, yet she liked that side of him. The gentle and sort of nice side to him that she was completely unaware of, up until now.

Draco disappeared around a shelf of bookcases, and she smiled slightly and picked up her book, walking towards the door and putting the book on the return cart.

She pushed the door open, walking out of the library and being greeted by the dim lights of the grand hallway. She began to walk to the great hall, having about five minutes to get there.

One thing was out of the way, now what to do for dinner with Ron and Lavender?

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><p>some Draco OOC, but like i said, this love story wouldn't work with Draco acting like a jerk face, kay? D: but review please, (:<p> 


	3. Someone Else

chaptaa three enjoy~

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><p><span>Chapter Three<span>

Hermione ran to the doors, afraid she was going to be late for dinner, seeing as she had been too wrapped up in her thoughts on the way here that she forgot about how little time she had to get there.

She ran to the large doors of the great hall and weaved through the other students, walking briskly to make it to her seat at the Gryffindor table.

She neared her spot at the middle of the large table and looked up, seeing Ron and Harry like usual. It seemed Lavender wasn't there yet, thank god.

She stopped at her spot, lifting her leg over the bench and then doing so with the other leg. She saw Harry looking at her, with a puzzled expression. Ron seemed to look expectant and was looking towards the doors, seeming completely unaware of her presence.

"You're late, so unlike you Hermione." Harry noted.

She raised her eyebrows, sighing, looking away from Ron's hopeful expression. She thought about Draco again.

"Yeah." She said slowly. "Interesting…"

'_Conversation with Draco._' She thought.

"Interesting book I was reading." She lied.

She wondered why she was lying to her friends about the recent happenings with a certain Malfoy. It was just, something told her that Draco didn't want her going around telling people that he was capable of acting human.

She heard Ron shift in his seat and she looked up to see Ron's face light up. She slowly followed his gaze, already aware of what he was looking at; still the hopeful doubt at the back of her mind challenged her to see for herself.

Her face fell.

Just like she feared, it was Lavender Brown.

Her new least favorite person was bounding over, her dirty blonde curls bouncing against her shoulders. She seemed to be smiling in their direction. Her glare followed her until she stood beside Ron, who stood up and hugged her. The feeling that surged through Hermione as soon as they touched didn't feel exactly joyful. She felt like she was being stabbed in the stomach, and all of her insides were dropping. Looking at Lavender's smiling face as she sat down between Ron and Harry, directly _in front_of her, made her want to vomit.

Hermione looked over at Harry and could see that he was reading her, his face full of pity. Pity that she didn't want but couldn't help but acknowledge, with a slight shift of her eyes away from Ron and Lavender to Harry, and then to the dark wood of the table.

"Hi Harry and Hermione." She turned away from Ron, looking from Hermione to Harry; her cool voice drew out the ending of Hermione's name.

She suddenly realized that she was the only one in their 'group' that heard the fakeness in Lavender's voice.

She knew for a fact, that she didn't like Hermione one bit. She saw her as competition; she knew that Hermione thought more of Ron than just a friend.

She was right in more ways than one. Hermione was competition and she did like Ron. She was sure she knew Ron better than Lavender could even _dream_.

The only thing Lavender had that Hermione didn't, seemed to be Ron's returned feelings.

Hermione didn't speak; she _couldn't _seem to find words.

She felt sick and betrayed inside. She only nodded and gave a weak, fake smile.

She shifted on the bench uncomfortably, staring down at the food that had appeared and covered the table for as far as the eye could see. The aroma reached her nose, and minutes before she _had_been hungry, but now she had completely lost her appetite.

She heard Lavender's voice again.

She couldn't take this; she couldn't stand by while the guy she loved was busy being wrapped up in some other girl.

She stood up, her sudden jolt up rattling her plate and eating utensils, getting Harry and Ron's attention, along with Lavender's.

People around her, turned and watched, a silence around her growing. She began to think she must've looked as bad as she felt, it was just, she felt awkward sitting down, but didn't like standing either.

She met Ron's eyes for a couple of seconds before looking around her. People whispered and turned to look at her. She took a step back, turning towards the door.

"Excuse me." She mumbled, and then quickly walked to the door, looking at her feet as she moved towards the exit.

Dinner wasn't required, you were allowed to skip, but it wasn't something many people decided to pass on.

She wondered what people thought as she made her way out of the door. She wondered if Draco saw her make a getaway. She wondered if he _knew why_. Hell, she wondered if Ron knew why.

As soon as she exited the feast hall, she broke into a run, running into the door of the closest girl's bathroom, pushing the door and stumbling in.

No one was in the bathroom; even so she ran to one of the individual stalls and stood, pressing her forehead against the wall to calm herself. She lifted her clenched fists to the sides of her head, pressing them into the wall as well. She breathed heavily, the pain in her chest throbbing.

"Hermione?" Ron called.

"Are you okay?" Harry's voice followed Ron's.

She heard Ron and Harry's voices outside the girl's bathroom. She turned; her head still pressed against the wall, and opened her eyes, looking at the door to her stall. She inhaled deeply, trying to speak normally, but to no avail. Her voice came out shaky and weak and angry.

"What are you doing here?" She asked.

"What are we doing here?" Ron repeated, disbelievingly. "We ran after you as soon as you left!"

"Some scene you caused back there, the people all around us started staring and whispering." Harry said.

Hermione breathed shakily, painfully smiling in spite of herself. She didn't mean to go and cause a scene; she thought she was barely even noticeable. Harry said the people at the Gryffindor table were whispering, made her wonder if people from the other table's saw.

More importantly, she wondered if Draco saw. She didn't even know why she cared what he thought, for some reason she did.

It was a mystery to her. One civil conversation with him and suddenly she treated him like her best friend.

Hermione lifted her head off the stall wall and opened the door, making her way to the exit of the girl's bathroom. She stood in front of Ron and Harry, crossed her arms over her chest and slowly looked up.

"What's wrong Hermione?" Ron asked.

Hermione couldn't believe he didn't know. She stared at him, and even watched as Harry looked at Ron, probably as shocked as she was that after all this time, he didn't know. She snapped.

"What's wrong with me?" She repeated.

"Lavender Brown is what's wrong!" She cried.

Ron still looked confused.

"What's wrong with me having a girlfriend?" He asked.

Hermione shook her head, narrowing her eyes at him. She felt the hurt flooding her.

"Because I want to be your girlfriend!" The words flew out of her mouth before she could stop them.

As soon as they were said, she pulled back from him, bringing a hand up to her mouth. His eyes widened and he looked down. Harry stood by, awkwardly looking from the two.

"I'm sorry Hermione… but I really like Lavender." Ron said quietly.

Hermione looked up at him, but he continued to stare at the floor.

"You don't even know her." She argued.

He looked up at her.

"Well, it's not like I know you any better!" He argued back, defending him and Lavender's relationship.

Hermione mentally pushed back.

"I'm your best friend." She reminded him in a desperate voice.

"And that's all you are."

As soon as the words came out, Hermione sharply inhaled, her chest becoming heavy and tight. She felt the urge to cry coming, a familiar feeling she was getting used to. She tried biting her lip to stop her from crying, but still her eyes watered.

"Just find someone else, Hermione. I'm sure there's someone else out there for you." Ron said.

Hermione head nodded slowly to his words.

"You're right." The words she spoke surprised her. Not only were they lies, but they actually brought her spirits up. Her thoughts were blank as she tried to think of someone.

"There is someone else." She spewed more lies, nodding while she tried her best not to cry.

"There's you and someone else." She repeated, reassuring herself with the lies she created. It felt like it was actually working; the thought of having someone other than Ron helped her ignore her damaged feelings.

She tried to think of someone beside Ron but really, he was the only one she loved.

She looked up, seeing that Ron looked somewhat shocked.

"Who is he?" He asked. Hermione faked a smile, acting like she was fine. She wondered why Ron cared who he was, unless he was…

No way.

Ron couldn't have been jealous could he? He was the one who just shot her down. Hermione looked past them, seeing students beginning to leave the feast hall. She pushed past Harry and Ron, trying to fall into the crowd to get to her dorm room, unable to answer Ron since all that she said was a lie.

"Hermione, who is he?" Ron repeated, turning around, along with Harry who also seemed interested.

Hermione suddenly stopped and turned around, a small, genuine smile crawling onto her face.

Something had just struck her, a great plan that seemed like the answer to second problem, being Ron and Lavender.

It was_so_ insane that it brought a sly smile to her face. It actually gave her so much hope; she didn't feel like crying anymore or even wasting time, _worrying_about Ron and Lavender.

"Don't worry." She called out to him. "You'll know soon enough."

She turned back around, continuing her walk.

She had a certain someone in mind, someone who had recently told her that he would do her a favor to pay her back.

Well, she had_ just_the favor, now all she needed was to find him and ask away. There was _no_way he could say no. Meaning, there was no way this plan could fail.

If only she knew how wrong she was.

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><p>review please!<p> 


	4. Meeting

Here's the next chapter, (:

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><p><span>Chapter Four<span>

Hermione walked into the great hall, this time around, she didn't _run _there, but instead took her sweet time, moping about the hallways like a zombie.

She was actually nonetheless, late for breakfast in the first place, but she was still half asleep and couldn't care less if she ending up missing it completely.

She _was_ hungry, seeing as she skipped dinner last night, but hunger wasn't the thing that was driving her insane.

The real thing that was itching at the back of her mind was Draco Malfoy.

Over the span of two days, she had cried her eyes out, had a civil conversation with the boy she was_ absolutely _sure hated her, got her heart broken, had her heart mended by telling herself lies, and then devised an amazing plan to get revenge and possibly fix things.

It _really_ was amazing, she had spent all last night thinking about it and planning things out, it was perfect until reality came along and crushed her hopes.

There was one, major problem with her plan. It involved asking Draco to do something she was about ninety nine percent sure he would disapprove of.

Still, there was that one speck of hope that remained. She was still going to try to ask him.

He _did_owe her big time, what for saving him and for him making her cry in return.

Maybe if she played her word's right, she could persuade Draco into agreeing out of guilt or by sheer logic; an eye for an eye, in other words, a favor for a favor.

Besides, he only told her he'd do a favor for her, he never said there was 'rules' or 'boundaries'.

She sighed, shutting her eyes for a moment as she listened to her thoughts.

It didn't sound so great in her head; she couldn't even imagine how it'd go down when she actually asked him. She tried to think of how she would ask him, seeing as she didn't have that much time to plan.

She was planning on asking him after breakfast. It was the nearest available time she could think of, and seeing how anxious Ron and Harry were last night, she needed to get this plan under way _fast_.

She sat down in her regular spot at the table, noticing the awkward silence around her immediately. She looked around her, quirking an eyebrow at the people who stared until they understood and coughed, looking away. Ginny however, leaned across the table.

"What was up with you yesterday?" She asked, tilting her head. The question came out just loud enough for everyone around them to hear, and turn so they could hear her answer. She ignored everyone else and smiled at Ginny, a cover up coming to her right away.

"I felt sick so I rushed to the bathroom." She half-lied. She really did feel sick, but of course she didn't run to the bathroom for that specific reason.

The tension seemed to clear and so she turned her attention to the food in front of her, plucking a piece of delicious looking bacon off a plate and eating it slowly.

The only people at the table who still looked tense were Harry and Ron; Lavender looked completely fine and was talking to a girl beside her, not even paying attention to Hermione. She didn't seem to acknowledge her presence at all, actually.

"Are you going to tell me now?" She heard Ron ask. Hermione didn't look at him, but instead grabbed another piece of bacon.

"I told you." She spoke between chews, looking down at her bacon as she bit it. "You'll find out soon enough."

"Are you lying?" Harry asked. She looked up at Harry, seeing Ron nod in agreement with him.

She wondered why Harry cared. Still, Hermione wasn't sure how to answer. If she said no, and Draco ended up saying no as well, then sooner or later, Harry and Ron would find out she _was_ actually lying.

"There _is _someone else. As soon as you see who, you're gonna be surprised." She said, smiling to reassure them _and _herself.

'_Yeah, madly surprised._' She thought, her face dropping as soon as Ron and Harry looked away.

Her eyes lifted and she gazed past Harry; landing on Draco who was sitting on the side facing her at the Slytherin table. She took him in, her plan coming back into mind.

Draco's bangs were combed to the side, his blonde hair parted. He seemed to be talking to Crabb, letting out a slight smirk and laugh. It wasn't a joyful laugh; it was more like a 'Harry laugh', the kind he did when he was tormenting Harry. The familiar grin and laugh he always did.

She seemed to be right; Draco did have a side to him that he didn't just show to anyone, not that she knew much about it anyway.

As she ate the piece of bacon, she continued to watch him, thinking about her plan. As she delved deeper, her doubt began to grow more. It was only a matter of time before breakfast was over and she'd have to ask him.

Suddenly, the food in front of her disappeared and a series of groan's erupted in the large room.

"Breakfast is over. Get to your classes." Dumbledore's great voice demanded.

As soon as Hermione looked from Draco to him, all of the teacher's were already gone.

She heard the creaking of the benches as the students began to get up and the loud talking build up among them. Hermione stole a glance at Harry and Ron, who were busy talking to Lavender, before she stood up and sneakily disappeared into the crowds of people.

She quickly made her way to the door, waiting outside to wait for Malfoy. She peered over students coming out and the people already out, searching the crowds for bright blonde hair. Even as nervous as she was, she was determined.

She jumped when someone broke her focus by blocking her view. She glared down at them; did they not see her looking for someone? Her eyes landed on whitish blonde hair. It was Malfoy.

"Hey." The word fell out of her mouth casually. At least she _tried_ to sound casual, but ending up sounding much more fierce and shocked-like.

Draco turned at her; his face was calm for a split second before he grimaced at her.

"What do _you_ want, Granger?" Hermione was taken aback. After how nice he had been to her, why did he still find it necessary to act like a royal jerk? Crabb and Goyle walked out behind Draco and as soon as they saw her, their faces filled up with disgust as well.

It took her a couple of seconds to finally understand. It was like she noticed at breakfast; nobody knew Draco's other side, it seemed. Draco was simply putting on a show for his friends, so they wouldn't know that her and Draco had actually managed to talk without insulting one another or yelling.

At least she hoped that was the case, if yesterday meant nothing to him, her plan had no hope.

She put on her own show as well, glaring at Malfoy before turning on Crabb and Goyle.

"Get lost; I have something to say to _Malfoy_." She spoke in a menacing tone, trying to sound like she hated Draco, which she did, because of his choice of words for acting like _he_ still hated her. Draco turned around and looked at his friends.

"I'll catch up. Get to magic history. I'll be there." He said. As soon as they shrugged and disappeared into the crowds, he turned back around to look at Hermione.

"Couldn't you wait till a better and more private time to talk to me about the favor?" He asked in a whisper, his teeth clenched.

Hermione casually moved a piece of her hair, looking around and exhaling. That made things easier, that he already knew why she was here. She looked back at him, slightly agreeing.

"Okay. Can you make up some excuse for your friends and meet me in the old abandoned music room at the end of the day? Do you know where that is?" She asked in a hushed whisper, feeling nervous as she saw people looking at her and Draco.

"Yeah. My last period is free, so I might get there a little early." He said.

"So is mine." Hermione said slowly, furrowing her eyebrows at the coincidence.

She shook her head lightly. "Okay, so meet me at the end of your last period in the music room, that way we don't have to skip dinner." She said quietly.

Draco nodded slowly; his face had a twinge of confusion on it. She ignored it, she must've looked as nervous as she felt and Draco probably noticed.

She got the draft that he already knew that she had something unusual in mind, noticing his doubtful facial expression as he hesitantly turned from her and followed after Crabb and Goyle.

At least she was safe for now; she had the whole day to think of some sane way to ask Draco her favor.

* * *

><p>Hermione slowly climbed the stairs, making her way to the third floor of Hogwarts to get to the old music room.<p>

Her classes had crept by like days, giving her all the time in the world to think, yet she still didn't have any idea how she was going to ask Draco.

She just gave in to the conclusion that what she was planning to ask of him was completely insane and there was no normal way for it to come out.

Just _thinking _of his face when she told him made her knee's feel weak. Draco's scrutinizing glare was something to be nervous about, _that_ she already knew.

She exhaled, upon finally reaching the third floor. She stepped off the last step and looked down the hallway, wondering if he was already here.

She didn't see anyone down the dark hallway; she looked the opposite way just to make sure, thinking he might've got lost.

If he wasn't visible, it could still mean he was there, but already in the music room. If he wasn't there, that just gave her a few extra moments to get ready for whatever his reaction would be.

She wasn't sure what to hope for, if he was there or if he wasn't. If he was, it helped her get things over with. If he wasn't, it spared her a couple of moments. She began walking down the left side of the hallway, making her way to the music room.

She stopped a few feet away from a dark brown wooden door. She pulled it open, clutching the cold, thick cast iron handle.

Hermione bent forward and peered into the room, taking a few moments to let her eyes adjust to the darkness, and her nose to adjust to the old, dusty smell. She looked about the room, seeing no one.

She sighed, strolling into the room.

The old music room didn't have any sort of lighting, seeing as no one used it anymore. The only thing left in the room was rows of old, dusty dark red leather stools. A few dark red leather couches sat against a wall, a dark brown wooden coffee table in front of it and a, now empty, matching bookcase.

The area was, what Hermione guessed, once used for studying.

Dark brown wooden cubbies lined up on the opposite wall used to hold instruments. A few scattered stands in the corner, with old, dusty musical books still open and in place on them.

Besides all the dust, Hermione really liked this place.

She had stumbled upon it while her first year at Hogwarts. She was looking for the room for her potions class in the same place as the old music room, but on the second floor instead of the third.

She hadn't counted the floors she passed, and accidently got off here, and found the music room. She came here often, to study in the peaceful silence, using her wand as light. She promised herself that one day she would bring candles up, and light them. According to Hagrid, she wasn't breaking any rules being there, as long as she was there before the school hours ended.

Hermione walked to the couches in the corner, sitting down and pulling out her wand. She flicked her wand, a blue light appearing at the end and lighting the dark. She looked at the door.

'_Guess I'll just have to wait for Draco._' She thought, turning her body so she rest comfortably by putting her legs on the remaining space on the couch.

As soon as she turned, she saw someone beside her, sitting where she was going to put her legs.

She screamed, falling off the couch, pointing her wand at them threateningly.

After a few moments, when she stopped hyperventilating and shaking, she realized who she was looking at.

Draco Malfoy sat there, with an appalled expression.

"Bloody hell, Granger, what's your problem?" He asked, standing up from the couch.

Hermione, who still sat on the ground with her legs clumsily sprawled out in front of her, scooted backwards and lowered her wand, which was still lit up.

"Me? What are you doing? Coming out of nowhere and scaring me out of my wits!" She cried.

"What?" He asked. "I was here the whole time. I _thought_that was why you came over and sat down." Draco said, sitting back down on the couch and staring at Hermione.

She rolled her eyes, lifting her wand back up and getting up off the ground. She dusted the back of her robe off and sat down on another couch beside the one Draco was on. She couldn't be bothered with him right now; there were more important things to discuss.

They sat in awkward silence for a moment before she heard Draco groan and saw him lean forward, resting his crossed arms on his knees and looking at her.

"So what's the favor you decided?" He asked, impatiently. He getting annoyed and the way he looked at her wasn't helping her sort out her words.

She just looked up at him, still pondering how to say it. She pursed her lips, looking back at the ground.

"Uh..." Was all she managed to say. She waved her lit up wand around, deep in thought. She quirked her mouth to the side, staring at the floor.

"What is it, Granger? Just tell me already!" Draco demanded.

Hermione stood up, looking him straight in the eye, just wanting to get it over. He really was pissing her off, asking so pushily while she was trying to think. She just let whatever came to mind fly out of her mouth, determination pushing her forward. Hesitation not here to stop her.

"Draco, I want you to be my boyfriend."

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><p>Oh dayummm, here we go. Dramione bout to GET REAL, LOL. anyway, review .<p> 


	5. Desperate

also, bit of Draco OOC at the bottom but like i've said a bunch before, draco and hermione would NOT work if draco acted like a jerk all the time. but don't worry, for most of this chapter, he's in character.

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><p><span>Chapter Five<span>

Hermione bit the inside of her bottom lip, _hard_.

Oh god, the look on Draco's face was terrible. He looked almost sick, and had shifted his gaze to the floor. She knew that, _that_ wasn't the right way to ask, but she was so tired of hesitating. At least it was out, and now all she needed to do was wait for his answer.

Trust Draco to get _sick _over the thought of being in a relationship with a muggle born. It wasn't as insulting as it was shocking.

He looked up, his face still looking abnormal to her.

"Excuse me?" He asked slowly.

Hermione stopped biting her lip. It was confusion she was registering, not sickness.

Did he doubt what he heard? She did too but, Draco seemed to be way beyond her. Her body loosened as she slowly and cautiously sat down beside him, scooting to the farthest side of the couch and slightly turning to him, still hunched over, resting his arms on his legs.

She inhaled deeply.

"I… want you to…" She repeated slowly, carefully studying Draco's actions as she spoke.

"Be my boyfriend." She finished quickly.

He sat up, rolling his eyes over to her and quietly, nervously laughing.

"That's not usually… something you ask of a favor. That's more like, when two people…"

Hermione eyes widened and she quickly interrupted him.

"Not for real, just a fake relationship." She said quickly, upon realizing that Draco thought she was seriously asking him out.

The thought made her beyond nervous. Besides, she would _never _ask Draco out for real, he was so mean to her. But as of lately, thing's _were _beginning to change.

'_I mean, it's not like Draco's ugly or anything. And he's shown me that he can act human.'_

"Why?" Draco asked in a suspicious and inquiring tone.

Hermione tossed the awkward passing thought about her and Draco _actually_being together away. She looked away from him and at the floor.

As quickly as he appeared, Draco was gone from her thoughts, replaced by Ron. The unpleasant memories a few nights ago in the feast hall haunting her.

"Well, I don't know if you knew…" She began. "But I really like Ron."

Draco shifted on the couch.

"And?" He asked, still in the same, suspicious tone.

Hermione sighed, shutting her eyes as she leaned forward, resting her head on hands as she let her elbows rest on her knees.

"And," She mimicked Draco's tone, then returning to her disappointed, longing tone. "It seems that he doesn't like me, but instead has eyes for Lavender Brown."

The name slipped out of her mouth _venomously_, the simple mentioning of it made her want to vomit.

"So the other night in the feast hall, she sat right across from me and I just couldn't take it." She shook her head, her curls falling forward.

"The way she hung all over Ron and the way Ron looked at her… It made me feel sick." She looked back at Draco, who was now casually sitting back.

"So that's what that was the other night." She said quietly, his eyes flickering up to hers. She smiled cheaply in spite of herself, turning from him.

So he _did _see.

She wondered why he was looking at her that night. She had spent about three years at Hogwarts, and she had always casted a glance at him, yet never caught him, _even once_, looking in her direction. Not even this year.

So it was true, things _were _beginning to change between them. For the better or worse, Hermione wasn't quite sure. Maybe he was only looking because he found it amusing.

"Quite a dramatic show you put on that night, Granger. Running out of the great hall with those two idiots chasing after you."

"And like you said, that girlfriend of Weasley's didn't seem to care at all. She actually looked quite amused." Draco said matter-of-factly.

Hermione silently thanked him for understanding what a vile person Lavender was, but when she realized what he said before that, it made her blood boil.

What right did he have to call her dramatic?

She flipped towards him, sitting up.

"You can't call me dramatic, you don't even understand." She said, defending herself.

Draco pushed back, his ever present grimace returning.

"You're right, I don't. Actually, I don't even _begin_ to understand how you could hang around that gross weasel, let alone fall in love with him."

Hermione's head throbbed at the word Draco used; 'Love'. Was that what she felt towards Ron?

Her focus came back to Draco, a defensive comeback coming to her like second nature.

"Guess I understand why you don't get it, I don't think you've ever even _had_ a girlfriend. You don't even know how girl's work, let alone care to learn." She said angrily.

"I don't focus on people's blood, I look at people's personalities, and Ron's a nice person who makes me feel good about myself."

The last words came out on their own, even Hermione was surprised at the words she spoke. She didn't know why she was bothering to defend Ron, but sure enough, she was.

"He makes you feel good about yourself?" Draco repeated, standing up, nodding sarcastically.

"Is that why you ran out of the feast hall last night? Or perhaps the reason you're here now, acting as desperate as ever, and trying to use me to replace Ron?" He asked, narrowing his eyes at her, his snide voice like shattering glass to her.

Hermione felt herself completely snap. She shot up, standing up as well and glaring up at Draco, who was obviously taller than her.

"Desperate?" She shrieked three tones higher than her natural voice.

"You are the most _unattractive_, _rudest_, _cruelest _guy at Hogwarts." Her eyes narrowing at each insult she spat out.

"I would _never _desire you in the slightest way. In case you didn't catch my words, I'm requesting a fake relationship with you so I can get Ron back. Unlike you, I know how the opposite gender works."

"Trust me, I'd rather be _alone _than with _you_!" She yelled.

Draco nodded, smirking at her words, slightly leaning closer and quirking his eyebrows.

"Feeling's mutual. Besides, I can get anything you have to offer from Pansy, and a hundred times better." His voice cunning and self righteous.

Hermione felt disgusted, and somewhat violated. Even so, she wasn't quite sure what exactly Draco was getting at when he said that.

She forgot all about Pansy. Sure she hung around Draco and his little group, sure she was just as cold as any stuck up Slytherin, but the thought had never crossed her mind that she and Draco might've had a thing.

Like she said before, she was absolutely sure Draco was incapable of having a girlfriend.

A sound by their left broke their glare at each other, and they both turned towards the door.

Before Hermione could register the fact that the door opening, she felt Draco grab her wrist roughly and he pulled her arm straight out behind him. The action causing her to stumble towards him and crash into him, the only thing keeping her from face planting into his chest being her free hand.

Draco pointed his wand up, a black smoke shooting out the top and cascading all around them. She was just about to ask him what his problem was, but was interrupted by someone else speaking.

"Are you sure you heard it in here?" She looked towards the door. It was Ron's brother, Percy. It made perfect sense he'd be out of class at this time. Not only was he Gryffindor's prefect, he was also a hall monitor. He pushed the door open till it collided with the wall behind it with a loud thud.

Percy walked into the room, looking around the darkness. Hermione's eyes squeezed shut. She knew what was coming.

A couple minutes passed. Her eyes opened slightly, when she heard nothing. She watched him scan the room again, his eyes going right over her and Draco.

Hermione suddenly understood why he didn't see them. Apparently what Draco used was some sort of invisibility spell. Since he didn't say any sort of words, it must've been a secret spell from the Malfoy family.

Percy took a couple steps back, until he was at the doorway again, and looked out at some unseen person in the hallway behind him.

"Well, I thought I heard something…" A small, shaky voice spoke. It was Professor Trelawney's, the divination teacher.

Percy looked back into the room, his hand still holding the door handle. He scanned the room again, his eyes going over her and Draco once again. He took another step back, shutting the door behind him.

"Must've been one of the ghosts. No one's in there." His muffled voice reached them from behind the door.

Hermione listened to two sets of footsteps making their way away from the room. As soon as she couldn't hear them anymore, Draco put his wand down, slowing dropping it into his robe pocket.

Hermione let out the breath she didn't know she was holding and slowly looked down.

Her eyes widened when she realized the situation she was in.

One of her hands were pressed against Draco's chest, her other hand being held behind Draco's back, not her wrist like he had grabbed before. She slowly looked up, meeting Draco's awkward look.

They quickly disentangled from each other, Hermione making her way back to the couch and sitting down, pursing her lips. She pressed her knees together, crossing her arms across her chest as she looked back at Draco who was turned from her and looking the other way.

Just great. First they hate each other, and then they're on small speaking terms, then fighting, and now just awkward.

She just wanted to leave now. She already got her answer; a big fat no, just like she feared. There was no reason to hang around in the awkward silence. It wasn't like there was anything else to say. It was obvious Draco didn't like her, and whatever she thought was going on between them before was false.

Silly of her to think they could actually be friends. Even after what he had said to her about being desperate, she still wanted so much for them to be friends. Just be able to speak to one another without throwing insults at each other.

This meeting had proven that it was absolutely impossible. Being _slightly _similar wasn't enough to establish a connection strong enough to base a friendship on, it seemed. She'd just have to find a way to suck it up and face Ron and Lavender and take the guilt of being caught lying about 'the other guy' as well.

She stood up, making her way towards the door.

"I'll just take you hiding me from Percy and Professor Trelawney as your favor. That makes us even, I guess." Her voice dull and disappointed.

She didn't look back at him, just walked to the door, and swung it open.

Hermione sighed, her pride feeling slightly beaten from the rejection and the terrible words Draco said to her now taking effect.

Maybe it was a bad plan after all, maybe it _was_ desperate.

She heard Draco's foot steps behind her but she dashed out into the hallway, already running down the stairs before Draco could even make it out of the old abandoned music room.

She didn't want to talk to him anymore. She already knew he was going to say something smart, but she wasn't going to listen.

Draco could go mouth off to Pansy, because Hermione was not going to give him the opportunity to do so to her. That was one thing she had that he could not get from Pansy.

It wasn't something to be proud of, but it _was _true.

* * *

><p>Hermione brought her fork full of food to her mouth, her head being held up by one of her hands propped up on her elbow. Her legs underneath the table crossed at the ankles as she looked down at her plate of food.<p>

"Hermione, stop ignoring me!" Ron demanded. Hermione continued looking down, rolling her eyes as she went back to eating.

"Just tell me who he is already." He asked for the fifteenth time, which she was sure of because she counted. All during dinner, Ron had pestered her about why she looked so dull, who her boyfriend was, why she didn't want to tell him. Really, he was curious, to say the least.

"Maybe she doesn't even have a boyfriend. Maybe she got rejected and is too upset to tell you. I mean, she does look rather sad." Lavender's said from the other side, her arm hooked around one of Ron's as she leaned on him.

Hermione slowly looked up, glaring at her sneering face.

She still didn't say anything, her glare going behind Lavender and landing on Draco. She caught his eye, her glare going even _colder_. She looked back down at her plate, shaking her head.

"Ugh." Was all she said in response to Draco _and _Lavender. The only thing Lavender replied with was an 'hmph' as she shifted and leaned in closer to Ron.

"Is that the truth?" Harry asked, leaning forward to study her.

She ignored him too for a few moments, before finally managing to shake her head.

In reality, it wasn't really because she got rejected, even though Draco did tell her no. She was lying in the first place, so there really was no rejection to a relationship request. Even though she shook her head, she still felt like she wasn't fooling anyone.

Before Ron could ask another question, the food in front of them disappeared, a clock chime going off and echoing around the large hall. Hermione was saved by the end of dinner.

"Get to your dorms." Dumbledore said, before he too disappeared, along with the rest of the professors.

Hermione got up as soon as she heard the creaking of the benches as people around her began to stand up to get to their dorms.

"Then what's your problem?" Ron asked.

She rolled her eyes again, still not feeling like speaking. She didn't say a single thing at dinner; she wished Ron would take a hint and stop asking her questions.

Hermione pushed through the crowds of people, trying to disappear so she could just go to her dorm and forget what happened today.

She wanted to get away from Ron and Lavender, even though she shared a room with Lavender, and was sure she'd get to listen to her boast about her and Ron to her friends.

It was no secret; Lavender knew Hermione was jealous of her for holding Ron's heart.

She got to the door, taking about two steps out before she felt someone grab her shoulder. She flipped around, Ron standing behind her with Lavender latched onto him.

"Just answer me! Quit hesitating, Hermione."

She narrowed her eyes at him, forgetting all about Lavender. She was so tired of hearing the same question. Why couldn't Ron just drop it? Was her silence not enough for him to get it?

"Do you want to know the truth, Ron?" She asked, stepping forward threateningly and nodding her head vigorously.

"Yeah, tell me! I'm tired of this secrecy game you're playing." He said, slightly angry.

"The truth is, Ron." She began, preparing for the humiliation she was just about to pour onto herself. She opened her mouth, getting ready to speak the truth.

She couldn't get another word out before she was interrupted by someone wrapping an arm around her shoulders. She was unexpectedly pulled into a shoulder hug, an unfamiliar warmth enveloping her.

She turned to her right, seeing _Draco Malfoy_.

He was actually hugging her, with a smirk upon his face while he did so.

She could not believe, in a million years, the word's he spoke.

"The truth is…" He said rather grandly, chin high as he eyed Ron. "I'm her boyfriend."

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><p>oh my gah, :o what will be everyone's reaction?<p>

oh and review please, (: if you got questions, i might answer them.


	6. Backfire

anyway, enjoy the wonderful drama. don't worry, we'll get to the dramione overload. i'm just as excited for it as you are. c:

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><p><span>Chapter Six<span>

In a split second, all of the focus on Hermione was pulled off of her and thrown at Draco. Everyone's wide eyes told her how they felt. Doubtful, shocked and pensive, were the only words she could scrounge up from the mixture of emotions floating about the group.

Even though no one was looking at her anymore, she could still feel the blood steadily draining from her face as her nerves began to destroy her from the inside. She could feel the curiosity and tension building up around her, even inside of her.

A deep knot of anxiety slowly turning into annoyance at how Draco had suddenly decided to have a change of heart, without any warning, should she add.

Hermione swallowed hard, taking note of how her skin began to flush from the contact of Draco. Even so, no matter how she felt, she knew she had to keep the same expression on. The same look she had when she was about to tell Ron and Harry the truth.

Still facing forward, she looked at everyone's expressions again, even getting a small glance at Draco's devilish grin from the corner of her eye. She even looked at Lavender, who, to her surprise was also shocked.

Of course she was sort of prepared, seeing as it was the same reaction she expected from them when she originally planned on telling them; back when she thought her plan was going to work.

Still, it was a scare to her, the confession actually happening. It would've been less stressful if it had happened the way she originally planned. But, as she already knew, anything that involved Draco was going to be an absolute _mess_.

Harry was the first one to break free of the shock trance and speak. He cleared his throat first, his mouth open for a while before he could actually form words.

"You?" He asked slowly, his voice full of disbelief. "_You're_ the guy Hermione's seeing?"

Hermione, still looking at Draco, saw him nod his head confidently, the fresh smirk still apparent on his pale face.

"Hermione, you can't be serious." She turned towards Ron, meeting his disgusted face. The way he glared at her, the way his eyes shifted uneasily. The look on his face… made her heart swell up for Draco.

The way the thought of her and Draco being together affected Ron was absolutely _godly_. She saw the jealous fire lighting up inside his eyes.

She awkwardly leaned into Draco's embrace.

"Yeah Ron, this is who I'm dating." She spoke, trying to sound as honest as possible. The corners of her lips twitching into a pleasured smile over Ron's mental breakdown happening directly in front of her.

Ron looked from her back to Draco, then back to her.

"Is this a joke? Last time I checked, Draco hated you." He said simply, obviously trying his hardest to contradict her. Her pleasured smile dropped immediately as she unconsciously leaned closer into Draco, growing sullenly bitter.

Not at Ron, but actually at the boy she was being hugged by.

If only Ron knew that this was all fake, and he was absolutely right.

Although she didn't know why Draco had suddenly changed his mind, she knew it wasn't because he had suddenly begun to like her.

She didn't say anything and looked to Draco who was also slowly turning to her. The way they were searching one another for some sort of explanation was a dead giveaway neither one of them had anything to say.

"Perhaps it's a miracle." Draco mumbled, seeming annoyed as he looked back towards Ron. Ron shook his head.

"I think it's insane." He turned towards Hermione. "You _can't _date him. He's Harry's enemy! Last time I checked, he was yours too." He tried to reason.

Even though Ron was perfectly correct, she still couldn't believe how much of a hypocrite he was being. Her gasp could've been heard all the way on the opposite side of the school. Her chest tightened, her eyes landing on Lavender's smug face.

"You have no right to tell me I can't date 'the enemy'." Her word's dropping out of her mouth like lead.

Ron turned to glance behind him at Lavender, understanding what she was getting at. Stuttering on his words in disbelief as he turned back to Hermione.

"Lavender's not an enemy! Lavender's not evil and doesn't torment Harry every second of his life."

_'It's not Harry she's been tormenting.' _Hermione couldn't help but think. She pushed back and defended Draco, trying to uphold their lie.

"You don't know Draco; you don't know what he's capable of being like." She said. After speaking, she realized how wrong it came out and didn't dare to sneak a glance at Draco's facial expression.

The way her words made it seem like being nice was impossible for him, told her that it wasn't exactly a compliment to Draco, even as true as it may be.

"I mean, you were the one who told me to find somebody else." She said, trying to distract them from her last sentence. Ron lifted his hand, gesturing at Draco.

"Yeah, but not him! Why not someone different?"

_'Because, Draco pisses you off the most.' _She held back the smirk.

"Because," She stopped, noticing she couldn't actually say the taunt that had came to her in her head. She began racking her brain for a sensible answer.

"We have something." Her face went blank as soon as the words left her mouth. She bit her tongue, already knowing Ron thought it was as stupid as she thought it was.

He blinked a few times before shaking his head in doubt.

"What? Made some connection when you punched him in the face?" He asked in a smart tone.

"No. Besides, that was a long time ago." Hermione said bluntly. Almost immediately, she saw Ron preparing for another wise reason.

"Perhaps you decided you loved him while you were crying your eyes out on your bed the other night." Hermione was taken aback.

She could feel the mutual feelings when she felt Draco's arm shift on her shoulder, pull off and drop back down to his side.

Hermione stepped away from Draco, awkwardly making her way to her left.

"H-How do you know about that?" She asked. She saw lavender step out from behind Ron.

"Oh please, kept me up half the night with your annoying sobbing." She looked at Draco.

"Judging by Draco's face, I guess I was right about it involving him."

Hermione felt the anger _radiate _out of her over how Lavender had just _assumed_ it was automatically about Draco. She felt herself quivering with anger as she tried to find a lie to cover their silence up.

"Draco's just upset because _I_ was upset." The sentence came out rushed and sloppily. She saw Lavender quirk a snooty eyebrow.

"Then explain the cold shoulder in the library the other day." She said slowly and all-knowing.

"Have you been following me?" Hermione asked, her eyes narrowing in outrage. She stepped forward, her hands clenched so hard at her side, her knuckles had turned white. All while this spat had been going on, Harry and Draco hadn't said anything.

Ron, on the other hand had stepped up to Lavender.

"You've been acting suspicious, so I asked her to follow you." He spoke, his face looking guilty and slightly embarrassed.

Hermione's eyes widened at what he said, a sly thought coming into mind.

"Ron, you've got a girlfriend. You told me to find someone else and I did. Still, you can't stop thinking about me." She smirked, a habit she had picked up from a certain Malfoy. She pushed her luck tremendously.

"You have Lavender… but are you jealous that Draco has me?"

They all jumped when a cat landed in the middle of them, Hermione stumbling backwards before finding sturdy footing beside Draco. Harry, Lavender and Ron going to the opposite side.

The cat jumped into the air, morphing into Professor McGonagall in mere seconds. She stood in silence for a few moments before turning her head side to side to look at all of them.

"Shouldn't you be getting to your dorms?" She asked slowly, her bugged out eyes reading their slightly guilty faces.

Hermione didn't understand at first, but then began to take in the state of the hallway for the first time, seeing it completely empty besides their little group standing directly in front of the great hall's door.

Her attention was brought back when she saw Ron shift behind Professor McGonagall as he hummed a sound of agreement.

His eyes looked up; meeting Hermione's slightly amused light brown orbs.

She could not explain how pleased she was. Although, a side of her _was _partly disgusted over how thirsty she had sounded a few moments ago.

A shadow passed over her, hearing McGonagall's shoes making contact with the hard marble floor as she strolled away, making her way to the professor dorms.

They stood around for a few awkward, silent moments.

Harry looked up at Hermione before turning around, his body stiff, his face stunned. Hermione watched his retreating back before looking around too. She wasn't sure whether to say anything to Ron or Draco. She d_efinitely_ hadnothing to say to Lavender.

She bit the inside of her cheek, taking a few unnoticeable steps back.

She was, thankfully, saved by the distraction Lavender made by turning away, and striding after Harry with an attitude in her step, disdainfully sniffing the air as she disappeared around a corner.

Ron flipped towards Hermione, staring into her eyes with an unidentifiable feeling before quickly following after Lavender.

Hermione waited a few moments, trying to put a gap between them before she too, followed after Harry to the Gryffindor dorm rooms.

She completely forgot about Draco, her mind preoccupied with dissecting how wonderful of a situation she was in, what with sharing a room with her least favorite person who now knew exactly what Hermione was trying to do.

She could _not wait_ to hear the kind of torture Lavender would put her through. It was like two steps forward, and three steps back.

Well, it seemed the only thing she could do now was physically take a few steps forward and get it over with.

She felt like her plan had gone so well, but it seemed it had actually backfired. Hermione sighed, her seemingly heavy chest dropping sluggishly as she began to walk forward.

Nope.

She felt someone grab her elbow, and roughly yank her backwards. She knew it could only be one person and judging by how much his touch hurt, he wasn't happy.

Something was definitely different. A thought dawned on her immediately and it made her feel worse than she already felt. Earlier she had spoken badly of him… but it didn't affect him. Did it?

She stumbled backwards, feeling him dragging her down the opposite way.

It wasn't like she said something insulting. It shouldn't even have bothered him. But then, why was he roughly yanking her backwards like he was. And _where _was he taking her? What was wrong? What did _she _do? Was Draco so conceited as to get mad at such a simple insult?

She ripped her arm out of his grip, backing up from him. She was in such a panic that she couldn't see his face for some reason. All she saw was his hand reaching out to grab her again, and at this point, she would've screamed, but she could only make the small frustrated gasps as he recaptured her and continued to pull her along. She thought she ought to hit him or something; he was more than invading her personal space right now. Still, she was so shocked by how he had went from happy, to calm, to angry in such a short amount of time.

As she was tripping over her own feet and feeling like she was being dragged by a leash, her mind was absent and for the first time, she didn't have a single thing to say to him.

Judging by how rough he was being with her, she could only guess he had _loads _to say to her.

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><p>review(:<p> 


	7. Crossed Lines

here's the next chapter! bit of Hermione OOC at the end, but i had fun writing it so whatever C:

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><p><span>Chapter Seven<span>

Hermione's clumsy feet tripped over themselves, desperately trying to walk properly, Draco's harsh grip making it almost impossible.

Her eyes looked up and around her, catching bits of unfamiliar surroundings before they whirred past her, also unable to keep up with Draco's unnecessary pace.

She caught sight of a green flag; the color alone was enough to send her a warning and stop her from putting up with Draco's irrational actions any longer.

She stopped abruptly, stiffening her arm as she pulled back, fighting his pull. Draco's firm grip kept held for a few moments before slipping off as she yanked back again, stepping back from him until she was out of his clingy range.

"We're _already _breaking curfew, what are you doing? Dragging me to the Slytherin common room?" She asked, her voice tinged with anger over how he had been treating her.

Draco turned around, looking at Hermione who was pointing at a Slytherin flag hanging from the ceiling to represent that it was, in fact, Slytherin territory he had forced her into.

"I have something to say to you, _Granger_." He spoke, not exactly answering why he was dragging her to the Slytherin dorms.

She didn't seem to notice, only listening to the tone of his voice. How it felt cold and it made her whole body stiffen.

With her head down, she tensely lifted her grey cardigan sleeve and inspected her poor abused elbow and wrist, looking elsewhere from his cold, grey blue eyes.

"Well, I have plenty to say to you too, but it can wait until tomorrow and do without your chokehold." She spoke, absent mindedly as she fixed all of her focus on her arm.

She dropped her hand, lifting her arm up slightly to show Draco.

"Look, you _bruised _me!" She spoke harshly, wincing when she ran a finger over the slightly discolored flesh. Draco seemed unaffected and looked like he didn't care, which wouldn't surprise Hermione if he really didn't.

"Would you quit overreacting and pay attention?" Her head only grasped around one word.

"Overreacting? Excuse me; _you _were the one who decided to rip my arm—"

"Just be quiet!" Draco said fiercely, shutting Hermione up immediately.

She stood up straight, putting her sleeve back down huffily as she waited for Draco to speak. Or bitch, whatever he was going to do.

Pure-blooded jerk was so sensitive as to get angry at the smallest insult, then vent all over her as much as he pleased.

Just a few moments ago, she was surrounded by pure bliss. Now, Draco had to come and stomp all over her happiness and draw out her suffering again.

She snorted, trying her best not to rip him to shreds at that very moment.

"First off, if I'm going to do this, you can't be such a wimp."

Hermione doubted her hearing for a moment. That sentence contained no 'mudblood' or 'you have no right to speak to me like that'. Actually, what he said made no sense to her.

She blinked, not even sure of what he had said in the first place. "What?"

"You let that Salamander girl put you in your place!"

"Lavender." She corrected.

His eyes widened slightly in realization before they narrowed again. "_Whatever_. But still, you let her talk to you like _that_? If it was me, I would've—"

"That's what you're mad about?" She asked her mouth agape, not exactly comprehending what Draco was asking of her. Draco blinked, his face going from angry to confused.

"What else would I be mad about?" He asked, quirking an eyebrow in interest. Hermione waved her hands in front of her.

"I mean, you didn't hear what I—" She stopped, her mouth hanging open for a few awkward moments.

"Never mind." Her eyes narrowed. "Wait, then why did you _drag _me here like you did?" She asked.

Draco face was blank. "I don't know what you're talking about. Like I said, you're overreacting."

"As if! You have the clutch of a dragon!"

"No. You just have the arm of a _mouse_." He retorted.

Her eyes narrowed further.

"I'm not going to fight with you." She spoke between gritted teeth.

"And I'm not going to date you if you act like such a wimp." He repeated, this time, Hermione actually registered what he was saying.

"Unlike you, I can tolerate smart comments from people. I don't just _whip_ my wand out whenever I feel insulted." She said.

"Then do something physical! Don't just let people step all over you." He demanded, angrier about it then he needed to be. Hermione mentally laughed.

_'You're one to talk.' _She thought about her arm again, her elbow throbbing. The word physical brought back a wonderful memory. The one where she actually punched Draco in the face. Did he think she did that all the time? Her mouth opened.

"That was _one _time, and you tormented me for years."

He seemed to wince before speaking. "Well, I'm not going to do this favor unless you toughen up. People hear me dating a mud— muggle born that doesn't defend herself and it will do wonders to my reputation. Not to mention what hell will break loose when my father hears about this."

He spoke, seeming to grow nervous as he listed off the things. Hermione suddenly grew nervous too.

She never once thought about what would happen if people found out about them. Before, she had only been thinking about Ron. But she realized, for it to be believable, they'd have to flaunt their relationship to everyone.

Including Draco's father, Lucius, who she'd heard nothing but _wonderful _stories about from Harry. Even if they kept a secret from him, she was positive he'd find out sooner or later.

She grew silent. Draco hated muggle born people to an extent that Hermione would never know. She couldn't even begin to imagine how his father was. A pure blooded family with a son who suddenly started liking a— a mud blood would never be accepted. She never calculated just how far Draco was sticking his neck out for her.

She never even asked why he had begun to anyway.

She looked up, her brows furrowing in curiosity.

"So why the sudden change of heart?" She asked, her voice as soft as a whisper.

He hesitated, so long that Hermione considered whether to ask again, wondering if he had not heard her the first time.

She saw him exhale deeply before looking away from her and resting his hand on his neck. Hermione was amazed to see Draco's ever present tense body, sway slightly as he seemed to loosen up.

"You made me feel guilty." His lips pressing into a tight line as he looked up to meet her eyes.

Guilty? Draco Malfoy could feel guilt? Since when?

Hermione wanted to break out in a smirk of irony. How convenient it would've been if he felt guilty back when they were younger, when he started torturing her, Ron and Harry. If only he felt guilty seconds after he did something mean instead of hours or days afterwards.

Still, as small as it may be, it was still amazing and touching to her.

Each day, the more she wrapped herself around him, the more interesting things she found out. Every time, a little bit of Draco's hard shell cracked off and she could peer further inside.

She didn't want to build up false hope again, but something inside of her was telling her that she and Draco really did have a chance at friendship.

She never really looked twice at him. First glance he was just a mean bully who was raised to be arrogant and conceited. Selfishness was is in his blood.

But now that she looked further, he was capable of feeling guilty and sorry. He was able to thank people and _he_ knew how to make _her_ smile.

He shifted, causing her to look back at him. A smirk stretched across his face. "Isn't that something people in relationships do? They know stuff about each other?"

"I mean, I know about your problems and you know about mine."

The word's made Hermione melt into her spot, her eyes blinking as she felt herself get warm. She felt like liquid as she stood before him.

Who in the _bloody hell _was this kind stranger and where was Draco? The Draco she knew made her want to smash his face against a wall on a daily basis.

A nervous smile broke out on her face, a smile she could not stop for the life of her. The only guy she knew who could make her feel so nervous and shaky was Ron.

Here she was, smiling at Draco. Something was wrong with her.

She slightly twitched her shoulders, blinking as she wiped the smile off her face. She looked up at him before turning around. She felt the tension pull away from her as soon as her face was taken from his gaze.

"Uh, yeah." She unknowingly agreed to his previous statement, continuing to speak.

"It's way past curfew, I—"

She turned back around, walking backwards slowly.

"I'll see you tomorrow." Her hand waved, dropping at her side when she turned back around. Her lips pressed into a tight line, quickening her step as she walked towards the Gryffindor dorms, leaving Draco standing in the hallway.

Unbeknownst to her, he was also wondering what had gotten into him.

A scowl she could not see took over his face.

* * *

><p>Hermione watched as the Fat Lady walked off of the painting, the scenery behind her opening inward like a door. She took one last look around to make sure no teachers were watching her sneaking into the Gryffindor tower way past curfew.<p>

She could _not _let her detentions pile up; it would do terrible things to her perfect grades. It was that _bloody_ ferret's fault, holding her up just so he could tell her to 'toughen up'. Even when he was trying to be nice, he had to act like a jerk. But still, better a mixture of the normal Draco and the new Draco to balance him out.

Otherwise, Hermione would go insane.

"Good night." A voice rang out to her from ahead.

Hermione froze in her spot, one leg over the frame of the painting as she looked up.

It was Ron's voice, but she knew he wasn't talking to her.

She waited a few moments, hearing Ron's faint footsteps fading out before she completely climbed over, hesitating before walking into the Gryffindor common room.

As soon as she walked in, she noticed Ron was gone and all she saw was Harry. She breathed out a quiet sigh of relief, wondering why she had gotten so nervous in the first place. Harry was sitting with his back to her, turned around on the couch as he looked towards the staircase to the boy dorm.

Her eyes narrowed curiously.

He was wearing one of Ron's jackets, one of his _favorites _actually. It was his grey knitted one, with the plaid pattern consisting of various browns and greens.

They were both her best friends and she knew them better than anyone. It was a dead on _fact _that Harry and Ron didn't share clothes, even as close as they were.

Partly because Harry was scared to wear anything of Ron's, only Merlin knew when Ron washed his clothes. And Ron thought of Harry's clothes as too formal, even though Harry wore similar clothes to Ron's.

Hermione walked farther into the Gryffindor common room, stopping a few feet from the coffee table situated in front of the couch Harry was sitting on. He must've detected her presence, as he snapped around, seemingly jerky as if frightened.

Long, dirty blonde curls shining in the candle light told Hermione this was _definitely_ not Harry. Lavender's long, frizzed curls stilled against her shoulders, a coy smile spreading over her pudgy complexion.

"So you're _finally _here." She drawled out the word 'finally' making it seem like Hermione had been gone for an eternity.

"Got a goodnight kiss from your boyfriend?" She asked, an evil smile flashed across her face.

Hermione let the uneasy feeling sink into her. It took her a moment to understand that she was talking about Draco; she wasn't exactly used to the name 'boyfriend', seeing as she had never even had one before and didn't have any reason to use it.

She was even more unused to the name referring to Draco. Her nerves throbbed uncomfortably.

'_Kiss?_' She had never even— she hadn't had her first—

Her skin felt tight and hot around her. She was extremely uncomfortable. She would _never _even _consider _having her first kiss with Draco. She'd rather make out with Neville than_ him_, and that said something.

She didn't answer, instead breathed in heavily and exhaled silently, her eyes locking onto Lavender's, her inarguable mouth pressed in a tight line.

Lavender spoke again. God, her arrogance was insufferable.

"Oh, forgot. You're just using Draco to make Ron jealous. Of course, you didn't kiss."

Hermione stilled, as if she wasn't still in the first place.

So, Lavender _did_know Hermione's plan. Even so, at least Lavender wasn't picturing her and Draco locking lips, even though Hermione was now getting terrible mental pictures of herself with her arms wrapped around his neck—

"Draco and I are _really_ dating; you can _keep _Ron." She lied, pursing her lips. Lavender arched an eyebrow, chuckling quietly as she stood up.

"Whatever you say, Hermione." She walked around the couch, making her way to the girl's dorm stairs.

"I see through you. The reason you didn't kiss Draco goodbye as you made your way to the Gryffindor dorms. The way he roughly pulled you along like some dog on a _leash_. Treats you more like an animal than a human, couldn't possibly be his girlfriend." She shot Hermione a smile before she turned back around and made her way up the stairs.

'_Some dog?_' Even though she had compared herself to a dog earlier, many lines were being crossed when Lavender said it.

Hermione's fist tightened by her side, a familiar feeling seeped into her blood stream. The same feeling she got seconds before she punched Draco in the face. Hermione bounded after Lavender, rushing up the stairs to catch Lavender with her back turned to her, outside of their dorm door. She grabbed Lavender's shoulder, having to stop herself from grabbing a fistful of her hair.

"Listen here," The rush hit her. "You _stupid slag_."

"Just because my lips aren't constantly glued to Draco's mouth doesn't mean he's not my boyfriend. Glad to see you practice what you preach but not everyone presents their affection like some sick show." Her eyes narrowed.

"You want us to kiss? I'll show you a kiss, only to see the look on your pudgy face when you realize how right I was and how untrue your 'facts' are."

With that, she stepped around Lavender's stunned face and into her dorm room.

A thought was prickling at the back of her mind, as she walked to her little section of the room; she quietly brought her fingertips to her lips

"Draco…" She murmured into the stillness of the room.

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><p>so, i hope we all know what Hermione's thinking about. (; review please! even if it's small, the smallest of review would still please me. i love to hear what you guys think! (unless it's negative. you can stfu if you don't like it.) so review! please. i'll love you forever.<p> 


	8. Invitation

here's the next chapter, enjoyy.

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><p><span>Chapter Eight<span>

Hermione's eyes fluttered open, only to see the utter blackness from underneath her familiar, gold and red Gryffindor quilt, the particular feel of it she would know anywhere.

She pulled it down, rising up slowly as not to get dizzy from sitting up too fast. She blinked, letting her squinted eyes adjust to the light streaming in through the windows all around the room. Hermione blinked a few more times, and looked to her small, electronic alarm clock sitting on the dark wooden side table beside her.

'_Eight twenty-three._' She sighed.

Even on weekends, when she didn't set her clock, she woke up early. The nerdy habit she couldn't rid herself of for the life of her.

She rubbed her temples, her face feeling grubby, making her crave a shower at that very moment. She looked around the room, noticing Lavender, Parvati, Romilda and Ginny were gone, their beds made and their school uniforms hung beside each of their beds.

She dropped her hands on her bed, looking towards the door to her dorm; the silence on the other side telling her she was alone. It was weird to her, seeing as _she_was the one who always got up first, weekday _or _weekend.

A thought dawned on her, making her sigh heavily.

_'Of course, they have reasons to get up early now. They all have someone, unlike me.'_

She inhaled, throwing her covers off and turning around immediately to roughly pull them back and fold the top of her blanket, abusing the soft cloth in spite of her own damaged love life.

She walked over to her dresser, grabbing her nearby hairbrush to comb her gentle curls as she searched for something to wear, slightly wishing it was a school day so she didn't have to look for something other than her school uniform.

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><p>Hermione pulled her white tank top down slightly. She had finally decided on that, under an unbuttoned, dark blue cardigan. Tight, dark jeans with black, flat, ash colored suede boots. Over dressing for herself, but she was single so it wasn't like it mattered.<p>

_Well, _to everyone she was with Draco, but to her, the fact remained, _sadly, _she thought.

She stopped her gloomy stride outside the great hall, awkwardly shifting to see around and into the big room.

The tables were scattered with students, but for the most part, it was empty.

She was looking for Ron and Lavender, but didn't see them. Even Harry was gone.

Weekends were interesting at Hogwarts. Breakfast lasted longer into the late hours of the morning, due to students waking up later than usual. Most students skipped it anyway. Not to mention, most of the students weren't even _at_Hogwarts. Some spent the weekend home, and some went to Hogsmeade.

As for her, she couldn't be bothered to go home. Her parents worked all the time anyway. And she didn't have her two friends to go to Hogsmeade with anymore.

Her eyes dulled as she sighed and walked away from the doorway, making her way to the library instead.

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><p>She strolled into the Library, making her way to her favorite place to sit, a giddy smile gracing her face.<p>

She stopped midway to her table, walking backwards to go back to a bookshelf she passed. Her hand reached up, running her ungracious fingers over the worn spines.

'_History of Sorcery'_

She plucked the book off, opening it to the first page, reading the description of the book on the back of the front cover.

She smiled. Today had just looked up for her.

What did she need Hogsmeade or her friends for when she had Hogwart's library?

She made her way to her favorite table, seeing it empty like usual, before taking a seat beside a large window. She leaned back into her dark wooden chair, flipping the pages as she quickly read through the interesting facts.

She shook her head, breathily laughing to herself as she sank deeper into her book. This was what she needed.

So what if she used to go everywhere with Ron and Harry? She had Hogwarts knowledge-filled library.

She got so into the book, not even a loud crash of someone ungraciously closing the library door broke her concentration. She turned the page, licking her dry lips slightly as she focused on the words on the new page.

A seat creaked in front of her, the table groaning underneath its weight as it was pushed forward slightly. Then, she was distracted. _No_one sat at her table, _ever_. But she already had an idea of who it was, familiar actions were _familiar_.

Sure enough.

"Granger."

She didn't take her eyes off of her book.

"Hey, I'm talking to you." The voice came back again, sounding slightly irritated this time around.

She still didn't move, instead continuing to read.

A hand shot out, pushing her book down from the top of it. Draco's slightly snarling face staring at her in disbelief from behind the thick dark blue cover of the book, he probably felt insulted from being ignored.

She glanced at him quickly before looking back at the text, shaking her book to knock his hand off before bringing it closer into her reading sight.

"_Go away._" She said bluntly, shifting so she could become comfortable again before continuing to read.

Draco ripped the book from her hands, pulling it back to him as he held it in his lap, underneath the table.

Hermione sat there, _appalled, _as she stared at him.

"_Excuse me._" She whispered harshly. "Can't you see I'm doing something?"

Draco smirked, making no effort to return her book.

"What are you doing in a _library_ on a _weekend_?"

She furrowed her brows.

"_Reading,_" She mimicked his tone. "Now give me—"

"But it's a _weekend_."

She stopped reaching across the table for her book, sitting back as she continued to glare at him.

"I don't care," She swallowed, becoming a little quiet. "Harry's gone, and Ron and Lavender went to Hogsmeade."

The silence fell around them, Hermione feeling like such a loner.

She saw Draco trying to stifle a laugh, which made her feel even worse. Then he said something that caught her off guard.

"Wanna go to Hogsmeade with _me_?"

She didn't even hesitate.

"No— now give me my book." She reached across the table, avoiding his slightly surprised look. He lifted it from under the table, holding it out behind him, purposely showing it off to her.

"Come on, I'm bored." He groaned, shaking the book from behind him, watching as her eyes narrowed hatefully. She sat back.

"Why don't you go ask Pansy?"

He smirked, the familiar self righteous Malfoy expression.

"Oh trust me, she was my first choice. I usually go with Pansy." Hermione muttered something under her breath.

"But she's busy." He turned slightly, staring outside the window, almost proudly. Hermione continued to watch Draco, waiting for him to turn back, but he didn't. She cocked her head slightly before turning to look, too.

She followed his interested gaze, her eyes landing on a dark form.

Pansy Parkinson stood in the brilliant white snow outside, wearing dark pants and boots, a black pea coat hugging her figure tightly. She had her wand out, breathing heavily as she shouted some un-hearable chant, lunging forward at a tree. A light exploded, as the tree morphed into a— Hermione leaned back slightly. It looked like a cat, but was strangely deformed. She furrowed her brows.

"She's practicing transfiguration spells." Draco said, continuing to watch Pansy.

'_And he's calling me a nerd for reading?' _She huffed quietly, watching her as well.

_Pansy Parkinson_. The girl she had recently found out was Draco's girlfriend. Or past girlfriend, she wasn't sure.

A knot of jealousy formed at the back of her throat.

Pansy was truly beautiful, even with a venomous attitude, Hermione envied her beauty.

Her creamy ivory skin and curvy body. Her dull green eyes and dark hair.

Oh, Hermione envied her hair. It looked _so _easy to manage, so smooth and just the right length, now at Pansy's shoulders.

Of course, Draco and she would be together. Even if Draco _was_a jerk, he did have looks. She looked at him from the corner of her eye.

The only thing that stopped her from going after him instead of Ron was his attitude. The way he hated everyone just by their blood or how they looked, how he breathed his father's every word, the way he just _was_made her hate him more than anybody.

He was down there with Lavender, no doubt.

She scoffed. "Oh, miss being a ferret?" She teased.

He turned to her, he blinked in annoyance.

"Oh _terribly,_ but this time she's going to turn you into a warthog, that way your attitude matches your body." He smiled.

She smiled back.

"Now I'm definitely not going with you." Her smile dropped immediately, as she stood up, and walked away.

Draco followed her.

Hermione walked to bookshelf a little away from 'her table', reading each book title slowly before moving on. The shelf groaned as Draco walked up and leaned against it, crossing his arms across his chest as he looked at her.

Hermione _tried _to ignore him, but couldn't help but wonder why he seemed so amused and upbeat today, instead of his usual angry, stuck-up self. Her lips pressed into a tight line as she pulled off a dark red book, tapping her fingers against the hard cover as she read what the book was about.

"Come on, I'll buy you something to eat."

"No thanks." She pursed her lips, turning a few more pages in the book.

He looked at her reading quietly. "I'll buy you a book from that book store in Hogsmeade."

"No thanks." She repeated.

He was quiet for a few moments before he perked up, shifting against the book shelf.

"You said Weasley and Salamander are there?" Hermione nodded, knowing who he was talking about even though he said Lavender's name wrong again.

She held the book open, reading as she walked back to her table. Draco stood up and off the bookshelf, quirking an eyebrow out of her sight. "Would it kill you to come with me, only for the look on Weasel's face when he sees us?"

She stopped, shutting the book as she turned around, a defeated look on her face.

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><p>review! guys, i love reviews, even if its small, i'll still love it.<p> 


	9. Alone

OKAY, bit of more character OOC whatever. as for madam rosmerta, she appears in prisoner of azkaban i think. she runs the pub in hogsmeade. you see, i don't think she and hermione actually know eachother, but for the sake of this chapter, i wanted them to be good friends. as for the bit of cute dramione-ness coming, i wanted something to happen for them to become somewhat closer. and also, because i thought it was CUTE! (: anyway, enjoy.

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><p><span>Chapter Nine<span>

The snow crunched underneath Hermione's boots.

She kept her eyes on the stone fence that framed her path towards Hogsmeade, ignoring the bright-haired boy that walked beside her, as he silently taunted her from behind his calm eyes. She felt them graze over her every once in a while, but he didn't say anything, nor did she.

He finally broke the silence.

"Why so quiet, Granger?" He asked in an amused tone. She already knew he had his eyebrows raised and a cocky smirk over his face.

She rolled her eyes, suddenly preferring to do this deal with Neville. She huffed out, her warm breath creating steam in the cold air.

"Listen, I'm not here to have a great time, nor am I here to entertain you," She ignored how perverted it sounded.

"I'm here to show off our relationship to Ron. Trust me; I'd rather be in the library right now."

She looked at him from the corner of her eye, his expression not faltering for a second.

"Sure, sure." He said, sounding sarcastic.

"I mean, I know. I was the one who decided to do this deal thing." He grinned, walking faster to get ahead of her.

Her eyes narrowed, and she suddenly wanted to shove him face first into the ground.

_'Jerk_'. Her teeth gritted.

Draco was starting to piss her off. He was one thing, and then he was the next. He was a total jerk, a misunderstood friend, and then a completely rude _stranger_.

She was starting to wish she didn't know Draco had more than one side, that she only knew he was a conceited sadist and nothing more.

She saw Draco stop ahead of her, folding his arms across his chest as he slightly leaned back to observe. She quickened her pace, stopping at his side, her eyes widening at the beautiful sight.

In front of them was Hogsmeade, the beautiful town that stood a little a ways from Hogwarts.

She scanned the town.

It was pretty busy today, seeing as it was the weekend. There was a lot of talking, noises made by welcome bells attached to doors that were constantly closing and opening. The smell of smoke and food hung around the air, making Hermione's mouth water.

Her own gleaming eyes looked over, meeting Draco's bored, annoyed look.

_He_was the one who wanted to come here, yet looked as though he'd rather _die_than spend the day here.

Draco suddenly turned to her, adjusting the dark grey, wool coat he wore.

"So Salamander and Weasel are here?" He asked for the second time that day. She shifted in the snow uncomfortably, looking around the town, praying not to see them right away.

"Yeah."

Draco was quiet beside her for a moment, before he turned back to her.

"And how do you know?" He asked slowly.

She inhaled; thinking back to that same morning.

Back in her dorm room, after she had dressed, she was about to walk out when her eye caught a flower shaped, folded piece of paper, resting on Lavender's bed.

Curiosity got the better of her, as she had walked over and picked it up. Almost tearing it into pieces as she tried to undo the skillfully folded piece of paper.

* * *

><p><em>Dear Hermione,<em>

_Ron and I are going to Hogsmeade today._

_Hope to see you and Draco there, maybe you'll prove me wrong and I'll see that kiss you bragged about._

_-Lavender_

* * *

><p>Oh, how hard she had crumpled that lavender purple stationary with Lavender's beautiful, cursive writing on it.<p>

She could just _hear _her tone of voice, how she would've said every single one of those words. As of lately, she was acting more like one of Draco's fellow Slytherin buddies, than a Gryffindor.

"Lavender left me a note, bragging about it. Talking about how she and Ron would be here today, and she'd love to see me and you—"

Her mouth suddenly felt dry.

Last night, she had bragged to Lavender about how she and Draco would kiss in front of her to prove her wrong. And now today, Lavender was looking forward to it. Hermione's face heated up. Oh Merlin, what had she gotten herself into?

She saw Draco's expectant face, as he obviously knew she was going to say something more. She coughed, re-shaping her sentence.

"She said she'd love to see me and you _today_." The sentence coming out slowly and carefully.

Draco turned back to the town, thankfully dropping the subject.

"Well then." And then he walked forward, Hermione groaning before she shortly followed after.

* * *

><p>Hermione pushed the thick, wooden door open, the welcoming bells hanging from the top chiming as it closed behind her and Draco.<p>

Her eyes searched the cozy pub before landing on Madam Rosmerta, also known as Ron's dream wife.

She always used to tease him about how much he fancied her, but she hadn't even mentioned her in a while, not that she had had any recent chances to anyway.

She was standing behind a wooden counter, pouring some sort of beer into a glass before turning around and setting it in front of a customer, a smile making wrinkles in her slightly aged face.

Hermione walked up to the counter, smiling at Rosmerta's back, waiting for her to turn around.

Sure enough, when she did, a smile broke out on her face. She rushed behind the counter, grabbing Hermione into a tight hug.

"Lovely, Miss Granger!" She pulled back, holding onto her shoulders as she continued to examine her.

"I haven't seen you in ages!"

Hermione smiled, shrugging underneath her warm clutch. "I hardly come to Hogsmeade anymore. Never have the time."

Rosmerta grinned. "Oh, is that school treating you terrible? Don't worry; I'll straighten Dumbledore and his professor's out quick."

Hermione laughed at her joke, Rosmerta baring a warm smile as she stepped back.

Her mouth opened as she was about to say something more, when she stopped as her sight landed on Draco who was standing behind Hermione.

Her eyes widened as she seemed to make a double take, looking from Hermione to Draco. Hermione could feel her tense, her hands still clutching her shoulders seeming to grip harder.

"Oh, is that Lucius Malfoy's son?" She finally spoke, her voice becoming quieter as she turned back to Hermione.

"Did," She stuttered. "Did he come with _you_?"

"I have my own name, you know." He snapped. Hermione's eyes shut painfully.

_'Does he have to be so rude?' _She quietly questioned. She saw Rosmerta blink and swallow hard.

"Oh yes." She smiled, tensely.

"Mister Draco Malfoy." She said slowly.

Hermione searched her face. Why was she so intimidated by Draco? Something told her the Malfoy's had passed by here before and had left their own personal 'dark mark'.

Rosmerta turned back to Hermione, still nervously smiling.

"Friend of yours, Miss Granger?"

'_Bloody hell no.' _She returned the false smile, trying her best to form the word 'yes'.

But it seemed Draco was feeling generous today, and decided to let himself do all the talking.

"I'm her _boyfriend_."

Hermione face blankly stared in front of her, stiffly staring at Rosmerta's similar face in front of her.

_'And Draco was the one who was worried about people finding out. Why did he just—' _She couldn't even form words in her _head._

If there was ever a time she wanted to cast her first killing curse, it'd be now. Just whip around, and grind her wand into Draco's forehead, screaming the words as loudly as she could.

Rosmerta dropped her hands from Hermione's shoulders. She laughed, seeming to wait for them to join in, but stopped when they didn't. Her face cleared out.

"Oh— really?" She breathed heavily, before looking down and making her way back to behind the counter, stealing a glance at them before going back to serving drinks.

"Rude, old slag. Learn to respect your superiors before I get my father." Draco muttered, before turning around and making his way to a table in the far corner of the pub.

Hermione's eyebrows squeezed together, worried-like as she watched Rosmerta avoid her gaze. She sighed, following after Draco.

"You are unbelievable." She hissed quietly once she got to their table, taking her seat and sitting back against the hard chair.

Draco rolled his eyes, resting his hands on the table as he leaned back and looked around the pub, making distasteful faces at people Hermione couldn't be bothered to turn around and see for herself.

"Why would you want to go to a rundown pub like this anyway?" He asked, looking back to her.

"Maybe because I like this _rundown pub_. I'd rather be comfortable here, than at some stuck-up, high class bar that you seem to prefer."

Of course, referring to the one he tried to drag her into before they came here. It seems he wasn't going to rip her arm off while trying to unlatch her from a tree branch she was clinging onto for dear life, instead giving in.

"Well thank Merlin you're accepted here, I just remembered people of _your stature_ wouldn't be allowed in there."

Her eyes narrowed. "I don't think I'll be welcomed here either after today, thanks to you running your mouth back there."

He leaned forward, that familiar Malfoy penetrating look that made Hermione want to bite her lip out of intimidation.

"You were the one who told me that we're supposed to be in some sort of," He paused to add dramatic-ness. "_Romantic relationship_."

She lightly shook herself loose.

"Yeah and _you_ were the one who told me that you'd rather keep this a secret from everyone." He gave a breathy groan, sitting back in his chair and rolling his eyes at her.

"I'll never see any of these people again. They're lucky to be breathing the same _air _as me right now."

He spoke just loud enough for the surrounding table to turn and stare. Hermione smiled back at them before slinking down in her chair, wanting to cover her face and run out of there.

Draco was _terrible _to be in public with. If he was this bad at Hogsmeade, she slightly wondered what he'd be like in a muggle's public place. He'd probably end up being arrested for acting so suspicious.

The only reasoning she could come up with for why he hadn't been so already, was that he probably thought of himself as too 'high class' to visit the muggle world anyway. She wondered where he went when he wasn't at Hogwarts. Did he spend his days in the Malfoy mansion? Or perhaps had some sort of plans she would never know about.

Her face dropped slightly as she frowned at him. Then why didn't he ever go home on the weekends? Could it be that the only place he went outside of Hogwarts was home? What, with his terrible father and just-as-terrible supporting mother?

Something Harry had said to her once repeated in her head.

One time, a long time ago, when he was trying to cheer her up after Draco had called her a mud blood, Harry had told her that Draco was so mean because he had only been around his parents, and learned terrible things from terrible people. He didn't have any real friends to show him how to treat others, and the only friends he did have were in the same boat as him, and didn't know how they were meant to be treated.

Back then, she was too young to comprehend what Harry's great mind was telling her, as smart as she _was._

Now as she actually thought about how he was acting, it made her feel… _sad_.

There it was again, the feeling she didn't want to feel. More things about him that she didn't want to know. Something just made her want to hug him, but she knew if she even touched him, he'd _kill _her.

"What's with that look?" He snapped.

She blinked, her sad eyes searching his angry ones. She leaned forward slightly.

"Do you want to go somewhere else?"

She saw him search her as well, probably wondering the change of heart.

He hesitated, before mumbling an 'okay' and standing up.

She saw him wait for her as she stood up, pushing her chair in and stealing a look at Draco's still, rudely pulled out chair. She ignored it for now, following after Draco towards the door.

Once they were outside, Hermione was still thinking about Draco and what kind of person he had become because of who he surrounded himself with.

Wondering if maybe the glimpse of the different side of him that she saw occasionally, were who he wanted to be but wasn't quite sure how to express properly.

Walking in the snow in comfortable silence, she slightly moved closer to him, eyeing the path ahead of her as she contemplated what to say. The words just kind of _came out_.

"Can I hold your hand?"

'… _What?_'

Instead of coughing to cover up what she said, she kept quiet, deciding just to go with it.

"No." Draco said bluntly, staring straight ahead as they walked to wherever they were going.

Hermione's gaze fell as she bit the inside of her cheek, wondering what she was trying to get out and why _that _came out. Draco must have sense her quietness as he slightly moved closer, groaning before hesitantly extending his arm to her.

They both stopped, Draco looking the other way as Hermione looked at his hand.

Her hand moved out slowly and grabbed his elbow, as they began walking; it slid down his forearm, before interlocking her fingers with his, moving closer to him.

Whatever she was trying to say before was irrelevant now. This was okay, and it seemed to be just what she was looking for.

She felt his hand tense within hers, and she looked down at them. Hearing Harry's voice again.

'"_People like you and me are surrounded by friends and kind people, and have a kind nature to show for it. Someone like Draco, who is completely alone, I'm not so surprised by how he turned out."'_

'_Cruel word's Harry, but you don't know exactly how Draco turned out.'_

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><p>awh, it's so cute. D: poor draco. this is one of the reasons i ship dramione. i always thought draco was so alone and had no real friends, and that someone like hermione could really help him. i hope you see what i mean. review please!<p> 


	10. Practice

Next chapter, wooo. :D

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><p><span>Chapter Ten<span>

It was like holding hands with a _statue_.

A warm, statue.

The awkwardness promised with randomly holding hands with a statue, seemed to come along with Draco as well.

_'Point proven,'_ her eyebrows quirked, unbelievably, as she tried to keep herself from looking at him, and accidently giving away what she was thinking about.

Even so, it was all she could think about.

Draco was so tense, it was remarkable. She could wiggle her hand and feel his awkwardly mold back around hers and immediately harden up again.

Something about his actions told her that he and Pansy weren't ones to hold hands very often. If, _at all_. She never had anyone to hold hands with either, but at least she didn't have a death grip on _him_.

Figures though, made sense to her. Pansy and Draco seemed more like that type of couple that were together because of their blood, not because they had any real feelings for one another at all.

She exhaled. She should be worrying about her _own_ love problems, instead of sticking her nose into Draco's world, where only the super rich and beautiful existed.

_That _Pansy Parkinson, Death's incarnate, dipped in sex appeal itself—

"So where is he?" Draco whispered to Hermione without turning his head.

She was quiet for a moment, trying to figure out who he was talking about.

"Who?" She turned to him, who was still looking forward, looking nervous and lost.

"Who else? That Weasel lover of yours, where did you see him?"

Her brows furrowed. "I didn't see him yet, did you?"

That cringe-triggering, awkward silence followed.

"What?"

"Draco, what are you talking about? What do you mean, 'Where did I see him'?"

His teeth gritted as he stopped, his death grip forcing her to stop as well. She was unfortunately in front of him, and she was clothes-lined backwards. She whipped around to face him, their interlocked fingers suspending in the cold air between them.

"I _thought_ you saw him, and that's why we were—" He gave their connected hands a shake, to emphasize. "Doing _this._"

A light went on inside of her, as she understood what he was saying.

"Oh— no, I didn't see him. I just," She swallowed, quieting down. "I just wanted to hold your hand, that's all."

Immediately, his hand was ripped from hers as it returned to the pocket of his very expensive looking coat.

Draco groaned as if annoyed.

"Ridiculous," He rolled his eyes, turning from her and walking towards a nearby bench.

Hermione stood awkwardly still, her hand slowly pulling back. She was hurt more physically than verbally. Her hand was now, beginning to freeze, while her mind was already used to the insults Draco threw at her, and couldn't care less, honestly.

She made her way to sit beside him on the bench.

"What's your problem? I can't hold your hand?" She inquired, crossing her legs as she glared at him.

"No."

She shoved her hands huffily into her lap, sitting upright. "Am I _that_ repulsive to you?"

"Yes."

'_Unbelievable,'_She looked away from him, forgetting that she was trying to be nice to him, and looking for Ron like she was meant to be doing.

At least, that's why she tagged along in the first place. To trigger Ron's jealousy, and the sooner she scrambled Ron's head to the point where he'd break up with Lavender, the sooner she'd be free of Draco.

Well, she _thought_ that was the reason she tagged along.

A sick thought was forming deep within her. A thought that suggested that she was here because she wanted to_ actually_ spend time with Draco, and push through all the bitter walls he put up, to the center where kindness actually survived.

The whole hand holding thing a few moments ago was a sign that she was actually interested in Draco.

She knew what this was all about, but of course she would never actually _tell _Draco.

It was better to just stick to the plan, ignore any weird thoughts she got, and get it over with quickly.

Besides, it _would _be over quickly. Ron was breaking, and maybe a few days from now, she wouldn't even remember what Draco looked like.

She was getting sick now. Forming feelings for Draco? _Please._ She pitied him, pitied the way he was brought up, pitied how he only had jerks for friends, pitied that she'd be the closest thing to a girlfriend he ever had!

'_That hand thing? That was just in case Ron actually saw us. That was a sign of just how much I don't want to be here with him. I was just flaunting our relationship to Ron. Maybe even a few hugs would help…'_

She shifted uncomfortably, her hand flying to her mouth, horrified.

The kiss.

Oh, what had she gotten herself into? Here she was, with her 'boyfriend', looking for Ron and his putrid, flower girlfriend who was expecting a beautiful view of Hermione's lips latched onto Draco's.

She slowly turned to Draco, her hand still held over her lips. Bad timing it seemed, as Draco suddenly turned to her, their eyes meeting awkwardly.

"What?" He questioned harshly. He being in a bad mood just made her tense harder.

'_No way.' _Her mine disagreed. She turned from him quickly, looking quite suspicious.

_'If I don't do it, Lavender will know I was lying and tell Ron._' She turned back to Draco, who was still staring at her. _'If I do, I'll humiliate myself because I don't know how to kiss, but at least I'll prove Lavender wrong and possibly speed things up for me and Ron.'_

Sacrifice her 'virgin lips' for her one true love? Was she contradicting herself? Draco was still staring. His mouth opened to say something else but she interrupted.

"Lavender doesn't believe we're in a real relationship." She had, _such_a way with words. Just blurt everything out.

"We aren't." She could tell her wasn't being dumb, just being overly smart, and a pain in the ass. She gave him a look.

"Well, who cares what she thinks?"

She exhaled slowly. _Now_, he was just being dumb.

"_I do_. If she finds out that we're faking this whole thing, she's going to tell Ron," She looked down, worried. "And this thing would've been a waste of time."

Draco was listening now, as he sat up straighter. "Well, how do we prove to ourselves to her?"

'_Oh, you're gonna love this one.' _She prepared herself. "She said a kiss would suffice."

The silence followed afterwards didn't surprise her, but it still made her feel extremely uncomfortable. Seconds turned into several minutes; until everything was so quiet she wondered if they had been sitting there for an hour.

"There are a lot of different guys out there. Muggles and Wizards—"

"Draco!" She cried. _'Oh, please don't back out now.'_

"I'm not going to kiss you! You're really taking advantage of my kindness."

"Did you know what you were getting yourself into when you agreed?"

Draco was quiet.

"Please— Make your kindness stretch a bit farther." She begged. "Once I get Ron, I'll never speak to you again, I promise." It wasn't like she wanted to do this _either_.

He was quiet again, but this time, he was thinking hard on what to say.

She could only wonder if he was feeling that guilt he talked about, again.

He turned back to her, wearing a look that seemed like he was tolerating more than he could handle, which, knowing Draco, was probably true.

He inched closer, and she scooted back.

"What are you doing?" He asked, his forehead contorting as he leaned back again.

"What are _you _doing?" She whispered into the cold air between them.

He blinked. "Well… wouldn't it help to get rid of any awkwardness before we actually…?" He stopped.

"Oh— _would_ it be awkward…?" She answered her own question right after she asked, disturbing mental pictures forming in her head.

She shuddered, but knew she had to do this.

So this time when Draco moved in, she stayed in her spot.

Her eyes hooded as he came closer, her warm breath creating fog in the cold air. She could see Draco's too, as he was now close enough to her, that she could even feel it.

She shivered, as she began to ask what she was doing, again.

Draco's hands slid to her waist, and she stiffened, unused to the touch. Her fingers reached up, Draco's blonde, gelled hair pricking her pale fingers.

They were too close to one another, she realized, much too late, that she didn't want to do this anymore.

However, she didn't pull away, but instead, slightly craned her neck sideways to coax his lips to her.

She surprised by the warm touch of his lips. The softness and just-right moisture they came with. She expected cold, rough lips.

He was, for the most part, gentle, but with just the right amount of roughness that slightly pleased her. Not that it was something she often thought about, kissing her enemy who mentally tortured her for years.

He kissed with more force, his mouth opening slightly as she mimicked his actions. Her arms were curling around his neck, unconsciously trying to pull him closer.

He was dominant, controlling, slightly rough, but that all… extremely pleased her.

They pulled away.

That was certainly enough for practice. Their faces both looked flushed from embarrassment instead of from the cold weather.

For a few seconds, they both sat there, staring into each other's eyes, both of them unsure of what to say.

It was instinct, as they both went back in.

Hermione's arms tightened around his neck, his warmth addicting to her. Her back arched, Draco's dominant posture causing him to hover over her. Draco's hands were clutching her waist.

She wasn't sure where it came from, but all of a sudden, Pansy's face flashed in her mind.

She suddenly felt sick. Oh, what _was _she doing? Where was Pansy in all of this? Where was Ron—

She abruptly pulled away, her fingers moving to the shoulders of Draco's jacket. She must've forgotten all about Draco's dominant actions, as she was suddenly falling backwards, Draco's weight pushing her down. Her only option being to dig her fingers into his jacket and try to stop herself, but it seemed, the only thing she managed to do was bring him down with her.

Instant mood killer, but as soon as she hit the ground, she wasn't thinking about Pansy and Ron anymore.

"Draco!" She wailed. "Get off of me!"

Snow dropped into the back of her coat, causing her to screech and struggle underneath his weight. She was pinned down, his hands on either side of her head, his knees on either side of her hips.

"Draco—!" She shrieked. '_Before anyone sees us.'_

"Stop moving— I can't get my balance." He ordered, trying to sit up.

The sounds of snow being packed down by boots made them both look to their right.

Lavender stood there, laughing, her gloved hand covering her mouth. Amusement danced in her eyes.

Beside her, Ron stood, annoyance dancing in _his_.

* * *

><p>OH, WHAT WILL HAPPEN? :O WILL RON SNAP RIGHT THEN OR THERE? FIND OUT, NEXT TIMEE.<p>

oh, and review. (:


	11. Breaking Point

here it is!

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><p><span>Chapter Eleven<span>

Draco finally seemed to gain his balance. He used the bench to pull himself up, and once standing, completely ignored Hermione still sitting in the snow, and proceeded to dust off his coat to remove any clinging pieces of ice.

Hermione sat up but didn't move from her spot, her face blankly staring ahead at Draco's shoes, her mind feeling like it was splitting in two.

Even if Draco had reached to help her up like the gentleman boyfriend she had made him out to be, she was positive she'd feel too lowly to respond.

Her mind grasped around the passing thoughts.

Of course this _was_what she had wanted. She wanted Ron and Lavender to stumble across her and Draco locking lips. However, she didn't want him to see her locking lips with him, along with him falling on top of her. She was going for romantic and lovely, not desperate and slaggy.

She finally turned her head, her lips crooked and frowning. Her eyes slowly looked up, unprepared to see the damage in their expressions.

Lavender was turning red, half amused, and half embarrassed for Hermione. Her mouth stifled any sort of laugh that was trying to escape her lips and she turned slightly, as if Hermione's predicament was _so_hilarious, she had to turn her head in order to not start crying.

Her eyes fearfully turned towards Ron. He was the exact opposite.

She blinked. A smoky, silent anger she'd never seen before emanated from his face. What he just saw… probably scared him away_, instead_ of making him jealous. His hands were clenching and unclenching by his sides. Most of the time, she could read Ron's expressions, she knew him _that_well.

But at this moment in time, she couldn't tell what he was thinking of.

She could get a general thought of what it was about, but how he felt inside was a mystery to her.

He was angry, but angry about what? What specifically? Was he breaking at that moment? Was he disgusted? She didn't know, so she sat quietly, waiting for his reaction.

She was taken off guard when Ron suddenly stepped forward.

"I need to speak with you." He mumbled, and then grabbed for Hermione's wrist and pulled her up. It wasn't rough, but wasn't exactly gentle. It was rushed and desperate almost.

Lavender was suddenly done laughing and called after Ron.

Demands of "Where are you going?" followed them as they retreated from Draco and Lavender.

Hermione turned her head; Draco wasn't looking after her like Lavender was looking after Ron. Instead, he was making a face at the back of Lavender's head.

Hermione made a face herself.

_'Pay attention to me.'_

It was just a passing thought, but a certain longing was crying inside of her.

She _wanted _Draco to act like Lavender for once. Maybe that was why no one believed they were actually together.

She blinked. _'I mean, it's for the public's sake, not mine. I don't want Draco to look at me…'_ She stopped thinking and turned back around, only to see Ron looking back as well.

She could tell he was watching Draco too. The anger flickered in his eyes before he took a look at Hermione and then turned back around, his grip tightened on her wrist.

Once he felt like he had dragged her far enough, he yanked his hand back to himself. He turned around, his sharp glare making her jump.

"I would like," Ron said hotly. "To know the _real_reason why you are destroying our friendship."

She rolled her eyes.

"Like you didn't ruin it the moment you decided to run off with Lavender." She mumbled.

His eyes followed hers, but she refused to make eye contact. "And if I hadn't, it wouldn't have been a friendship anymore."

"And that bothers you right?" She asked, her voice unmistakably and accidently longing.

Ron was quiet, and she looked back to him, finally meeting his eyes. "No… it…"

"It what, Ron? What?" She demanded.

"It scares me."

Her eyes narrowed, hurt. Ron continued. "It scares me, ruining what good of a friendship we had."

"_Had, _Ron. At least accepting my feelings would have had a chance of working out. Going off with Lavender certainly kept it alive right?"

Her eyes were misting. "You have no idea how it _feels_. To be cast off by someone you called your best friend for what, four or five years?"

"I feel it now." He confessed.

"Good." She replied coldly, like some sort of sadist.

"So is that why you started going out with Draco? As some sort of payback?"

She saw his game. Get through to her, and then get her to confess. It wasn't going to work, her brilliant mind was sharp.

"No." She said, her voice sincere and honest. She raised her chin, straightening up.

"Draco was there for me when you weren't." She informed proudly.

Ron's angry silence returned.

"I don't understand when you two started to fall in love." He finally said.

"As soon as you turned your back on me and went after Lavender."

"Hey, she went after _me._"

"I wasn't asking." She muttered. "What difference does it make? You _followed_."

Snow crunched behind her, she flipped around to see Lavender.

"God, can't we have any _privacy_, you obsessed freak?" She snapped. Lavender's mouth dropped.

"Well at least I came after Ron, unlike _your '_boyfriend'." She snapped back.

"At least he gives me some space! Take a lesson, _slag_."

Lavender's hands clenched and she reached for her wand. Hermione's hand shot into her coat pocket, gripping hers as well, so hard she was scared she would snap her wand in half.

Ron interjected then, grabbing Lavender by the shoulders and driving her back, turning back to stare apologetically at Hermione. Her grip loosened and she took a shallow breath.

What was she doing?

This wasn't Hermione.

The Hermione who focused on school and hung out with two best friends.

There wasn't supposed to be any romantic love there. She wasn't supposed to throw the word 'slag' around on a daily basis. She wasn't supposed to be threatening another girl with her wand only because she had something that she could never have.

She realized Ron and Lavender weren't the ones ruining everything.

It was her.

There was no point to her whole deal with Draco. She had no right to plot to ruin Ron and Lavender's happiness.

It has always been her who had the problem that needed fixing; she was just too conceited to notice.

She took a deep breath, a sob escaping shakily as she exhaled. Her eyes misted and she couldn't help her eyebrows from dropping pathetically.

She looked past them, her feet moving on their own, unable to stand there while all eyes pointed at her. She shot Lavender a glare while she trudged past them, her stride jerky and unstable.

Walking up, she saw Draco sitting on the bench, watching her as she neared him. His mouth was jerked up into a half amused, half curious expression.

As she got closer, she saw his expression falter at the sight of her red eyes.

She sat beside him, her back rigid as she looked forward at nothing.

Ron's words played over in her head.

She saw Draco turn to her out of the corner of her eye, his mouth opening to say something, but she spoke first.

"Hey Draco." She murmured so quietly, he almost didn't hear her.

She blinked once slowly, and looked at the ground.

"I'm calling off the deal."

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><p>oh snappp. you'll have to find out what happens next chapter. review please! i love them!<p> 


	12. Normal

been a while since i last updated, sorry. midterms, ugh. but here it is! (:

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><p><span>Chapter Twelve<span>

Hermione blinked, her eyes dropping immediately, biting back the un-helpable frustration that washed over her.

That was _seven _times that Snape had met her eyes, expectedly, waiting for her to raise her hand to answer every question of his like she always did.

She wanted to, but she couldn't. The muscles in her arm tingled painfully, longing to move, reminding her that she hadn't moved that arm in a while and it had fallen asleep.

All throughout his class, her mind just wouldn't focus on what he was saying. Every time she tried, she couldn't pick up on anything.

She watched as Snape silently sighed, annoyed, before he continued his stride across the front of the room, beginning his lecture again.

Her jaw tensed and she stared hard down at her desk.

She almost scoffed, a habit she had picked up on from—

Her fists tightened. She looked up and tried again, _fruitlessly_ trying to listen to Snape's lecture.

She had always been so good in defense against the dark arts but as of lately she was doing terribly.

Her participation grade was dropping every day. It didn't help that after each class she was failing; Draco would stare at her as she walked past him, not saying a single word.

Although, she was sure he didn't want her to even look at him in the presence of his ruffian friends.

Still, his stare was persistent, expectant, of what, she couldn't care to know. Words _would've_ helped but... like she noticed, he never spoke to her. She wasn't sure she wanted to speak to him anyway.

A week had passed since she had called off the deal and trudged back to Hogwarts, back to her dorm, back to her bed. Where she had just sat in pure silence and thought of nothing.

After about an hour, she had stopped, straightened herself up, and called home. She had disappeared for the rest of the weekend and then returned to classes regularly, busying herself after each class so if she had run into Ron and Draco, she wouldn't have time to chat.

That was how it had been.

For the last week, she had been trying to go back to her normal self. No more using study periods to meet up with Draco. No more skipping out on dinner because she couldn't stand to watch the person she loved, love someone else.

Everything had gone back to normal. Well, as normal as things could be in this mess.

The sound of books being shoved into bags brought her back to reality. She looked around to see Snape disappearing behind a storage room in the back of the class.

She inhaled, getting up and gathering her stuff.

She swallowed as she put her books away.

Next period was a study period. She prayed that _that_would be what it turned out to be really.

Her mouth quirked hopefully as she made her way out the door and to the library, where she did her usual studying.

A shudder ran through her back as she met eyes with Draco.

He was leaning against the dark stone wall about ten feet away from her, his rude friends scattered about him.

Pansy stood in front of him, her back to Hermione. She was picking at her perfectly manicured nails, kudos to the nail painting spell she had picked up from a beauty book in the library. Her jaw was moving as she talked to Draco who was clearly not listening, as his eyes were glued to Hermione's.

She stopped in place, inhaling and staring back. Her arms were tensed and at her sides.

Just as always, his face was blank. There was no telling what he was thinking.

She broke contact and stalked forward in a brisk stride. She held her chin high, keeping her eyes forward as she passed him. Still, his eyes burned holes into her.

But she kept breathing, trying not to let it show that his intense stare and hidden judgmental thoughts didn't affect her, even though they did. She didn't know who she was trying to fool.

Definitely not Draco, seeing as he knew everything, and definitely not herself.

Still a thought sat at the back of her head, hopeful and barely alive, trying to convince her that he didn't, in fact, know _everything_. That he was just Draco Lucius Malfoy, a bully, an enemy, nothing more.

She wanted to forget she ever attempted to win Ron back with _him_. The things she did with him— she shuddered.

She was still holding her breath after she had arrived at the library's doors. She stood still in front of them for a while, her mind blank.

She peered into the glass, a banner taped to the back wall catching her eye.

It read 'The Yule Ball' in bold, black capital letters. An arrow pointed down to a bookcase, showing the bookcase had something to do with the Yule Ball.

She huffed loudly, unable to hold back. She'd been trying to _forget_ about the Yule Ball but it seemed to be plastered on every wall in Hogwarts.

It was a huge, fancy ball that Hogwarts held five days before Christmas. Every student was encouraged to go, alone or not. The professors took time out of their classes, excluding Snape, to give advice and etiquette lessons to prepare the obnoxious males and unlady-like females that attended Hogwarts.

She didn't have anyone to go with and she didn't feel up for dancing so she planned on skipping out.

But posters came up everywhere, reminding her about the event.

Her hands hesitated to push open the library door. She suddenly didn't want to study there, even though she always did it there.

Her face contorted as she racked her brain for an answer. She desperately needed to catch up on Snape's lecture and find out what he was talking about the whole class period. Still, her hands wouldn't open the door. They shook and trembled at her side.

There was no way she was going to go in there, only to have to stare at her embarrassing fate plastered up on a wall the whole time.

* * *

><p>Hermione felt the heavy stack of books in her hands tilting to one side and she swerved her body to catch them before they fell over. As soon as she did that, she crashed into the wall, causing them to go the opposite direction. Once again, she swerved like a car across the hallway, catching them.<p>

Her knees buckled and she crouched immediately, stilling the stack of books. Slowly she stood, making sure they were perfectly aligned underneath her chin before continuing her way to the old, abandoned music room.

She came to a stop at the door, eyeing the handle behind the huge stack of books in front of her.

Her knees quivered dangerously underneath the weight of the books. She bit her lip, balancing the books between one hand and her chin, reaching into her robe pocket to pull out her wand.

With a flick, it glowed at the end. She stuck the end in her mouth, careful not to bite down to create indentations in the dark wood it was made of. With her free hand, she grabbed the cold, cast iron handle and pushed inward.

She must've pushed too hard, as the door swung open with such ferocity it collided with the wall behind it, ricocheting back and hitting her and her colossal stack of books. She stumbled back, seeming to collect her footing before the books went the opposite way, falling forward.

She tried to scuffle forward, trying to balance them out and catch them before they fell. Unfortunately, she slipped. Her wand fell out of her mouth as she shrieked, books flying everywhere as she met the floor.

She landed on her pile of books. Groaning, she sat up, rubbing her forehead where a book's spine had smashed into it.

She searched the floor for her wand. Her eyes caught a small ball of light, lighting up everything around it as it rolled across the floor. She got onto her hands and knees, reaching with one hand towards her wand.

It came to a stop at a pair of shoes. Dark black loafers, that probably cost more than Hermione's life, came into view due to the light.

Hermione's eyes narrowed as pale fingers appeared through the glow of her wand, reaching down and gingerly lifting it up.

Her eyes followed the path of light till it stopped, resting vertically beside Draco's smirking face.

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><p>yes, i DID change the yule ball. oh well. oh and review!<p> 


	13. No Point

ohmygoshh~

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><p><span>Chapter Thirteen<span>

Her jaw dropped.

Here she sat, books strewn across the floor, her on her hands and knees, glaring up at Draco's unexpected and unwelcomed smirking face.

_Just _the person she wanted to see.

Her mouth opened and closed a few more times, unsure of what to say. Cold shock ran through her veins.

"What…" It came out weak and quiet.

"What are _you _doing here?" She snapped, falling back onto her haunches, knuckles turning white as she pressed her nervous hands into her knees.

"Could ask you the same question." He said in a reserved manner, his lips pulled over his teeth in his signature self absorbed Malfoy smirk.

She lowered her head, annoyed. "I _was _hoping to study in quiet but I can see that's out of the question."

He was quiet for a few moments, silent. Before she could ask, what sounded like a shower curtain being pulled back interrupted her.

Bright light flooded her vision. She blinked a few times, seeing Draco standing beside a window she had never noticed before, both of his hands clutching dark red curtains both pulled to either side of the window. He stared out the window for a moment before turning back around, his smirk gone and his tone much calmer now.

"Or avoiding me." The words were cold and stern.

It was her turn to grin this time, only to take the sting out of her next words. "I _was_."

"But oh look— you found me anyway." She held her hands up in a mocking shrug.

"Oh well." Her plastic grin stayed put, bitterly.

Her smile dropped and she held out her hand, uncurling and curling her fingers. "Can I have my wand back now?"

"—Oh and the doors behind me." She nodded towards the door with her chin.

"Not so fast Granger." He dropped her wand into his robe. "I want a few answers first."

She jerked up angrily, her glaring eyes shooting from his pocket to his face.

Her teeth grit angrily behind her pouted lips. Only someone as evil and annoying and immature as him would do that. He smirked, realizing her defeat.

"Okay." She said impatiently, shrugging the hair from her shoulders, not about to let him watch her sulk in defeat. She stood up, dusting off the back of her robe before straightening up to look him in the eye.

"What is it you want to know?" She slightly sighed.

Draco's face softened, not kindly, but cunningly.

His wand appeared out of nowhere, he twirled the ends between his pale fingers, smirking down at them.

"Just curious as to why you've gone and given up."

Her eyes narrowed in curiosity as well. Why would Draco ask _that_? Since when did he care what she did or didn't do? She was pretty sure he had regretted his life while they were faking their relationship.

Was she wrong?

A smile broke out on her face in doubt. "Wow, I never knew you could care about someone else other than yourself."

"Cut the wise cracks Granger, I'm genuinely curious and I'm expecting an answer." He snapped.

She blinked right after she flinched.

He was serious? He seriously wanted to know?

She cleared her throat quietly, taken by surprise of his seriousness and found with no answer.

"No point." The words— the _truth _came out almost silent. They cracked, sounding soundless croaking from her throat.

Her eyes froze, her mouth agape over how the stinging words wouldn't come out right.

Draco's expression didn't change. He stared at her, expecting her to repeat herself.

"No point." She repeated, the words loud and official this time, eyes shifting up to his, pursing her lips to stop herself from even _thinking _about the sadness.

Draco breathed in deeply, taking the words in just as she was.

"After all of… _that_." He lowered his chin. "You decided there was no point?"

She broke out into a smile, lowering her face to the ground and staring at her pleated skirt resting over her long pale legs.

It did sound as terrible to Draco as it did to herself, after all. Just like she feared.

Still, she was beginning to hate running from the truth. All these little games and lies would catch up to her one day and it would be best to stop before it got out of hand.

Her plan had _almost_ worked— no. She didn't want to think about it. It would stir up emotions that would do more than just take things too far.

Draco took her silence as an answer and he heaved out a sigh of impatience.

"Why didn't you just _decide _that in the beginning?" He scoffed bitterly, backing up and taking a seat on one of the leather sofas. He leaned back, wand in one hand, resting his arms on either side of him, on the back of the sofa.

"Would've saved us a whole bunch of time."

The words almost hurt. They hit her in such a way that it sounded almost as if he was calling her stupid. But on the other hand, she already kind of felt that way so it wasn't like he was damaging anything not already broken.

She felt Draco's eyes on her.

Her eyes stayed glued on the ground for a few moments before she looked up, staring out the window behind Draco and keeping her eyes _off_of him.

She turned from him, taking a few moments to gather her books in her arms before turning to leave.

"Granger."

The blunt word made her jump and almost made her drop the books again. She turned slowly, books shaking in her arms.

Draco was holding her wand up, his face that of disbelief. "Don't you want your _wand _back?"

She smiled, annoyed at herself. She totally forgot he had it.

He stood up and began walking towards her and she turned to drop the books on an old wooden table beside the door. She turned back to receive her wand.

She was surprised by a crisp, black envelope behind her wand in his hand.

Hermione swallowed, unsure of whether the envelope was for her or not. She hadn't seen it a minute ago, meaning he must have also taken it out.

She looked up and he quirked his eyebrows and motioned the _two _items to her.

She hesitantly reached out taking them both. She dropped the wand in her robe pocket and then lifted the envelope up to hold in her two hands.

She looked back up at him.

He gave that famous Draco grin and then turned away, walking down the hallway. He didn't look back at her. When he was gone, she lifted the envelope and stared at it in question.

What could he possibly have given her a letter for? And why would he grin and walk away in response to it? Was there something about this letter that Hermione wouldn't like? Maybe Draco grinned because she _would _like it.

No. _No way_. Draco didn't _grin _in response to her happiness.

She quickly but _carefully _opened it, the paper seeming way too expensive and high class to be ripped.

After many frustrating attempts to open it, she reached in, pulling out the white paper a bit just to see it.

Inside was a white cardstock piece of paper. It was small, some sort of letter written on it in black ink.

She pulled it out and lifted it closer so she could read the dainty cursive writing.

She read it once.

And then read it again.

Slowly, her grip tightened on the paper. They continued tightening with every word she read over.

When she finished reading, she sat there in disbelief. Her face was blank, her mouth open.

Her face jerked up, looking past the white paper in front of her face to see Draco had already left.

She stared back down at the cardstock.

'_You have got to be kidding me._'

She tore after him, letter in hand, reaching inside her pocket for her wand.

"DRACO MALFOY, I AM GOING TO AVADA KEDAVRA YOU INTO OBLIVION." She screamed, disappearing behind the corner.

* * *

><p>NEKOLOGIC, HERMIONE DOESN'T SCREAM IN HARRY POTTER!<p>

well, she does in my story. (:


	14. Humiliation

here!

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><p><span>Chapter Fourteen<span>

Hermione stood outside the Slytherin chamber door. She bounced on her feet impatiently, her arms crossed with the letter in one of her hands, hidden against her chest.

Her fingers were clutching the paper so hard, she could feel it ripping. But she didn't care how much Draco spent on the stupid envelope. She would tear it to pieces just as she had done with the disgusting piece of cardstock inside of it.

Slytherins came out a couple at a time. She searched them, looking for the despicable Malfoy. Most of them noticed and they stared back.

There was an occasional snooty 'oh, little lion cub, shouldn't you be in your _own _den?'. She shot back a glare which was enough to get them to hurry away in slight discomfort.

She was not someone to be messed with on a daily basis but _today… _she wouldn't be surprised if she _killed _someone.

Especially a certain Malfoy who she had been waiting here for, for an hour.

Hermione had always been the one to get up early for no apparent reason but today, she got up _too _early. She knew she should've waited until closer to when classes came to come and wait for him but…

Anger drove her. She could wait here for hours _upon _hours.

But it still wouldn't hurt if he came out already. Checking the clock behind her, it was almost time for classes to start.

She _knew_ he should be out now because they had first period together. Draco was not the one to be late, probably fearful of what his father would say about it.

Her mouth quirked. Had Draco already left?

No, she had gotten here too early for him to have already left beforehand.

Did she miss him? Did he leave unnoticed, buried in a group of Slytherins?

No, she was too angry to let him slip by that easily.

She would stop at nothing to find him. So much that she had also been searching for his friends but noticed he was not with them.

He _had _to be in there. All she had to do was wait.

Minutes passed by. Then the clock chimed, a bell that reminded students the actual bell was about to ring.

Her hands clenched and unclenched at her sides uncomfortably. After a bit of arguing with herself, she did something she thought she would _never_ do.

She walked up at the Slytherin common room painting and whispered 'parseltongue'.

Just like she expected, it opened to her.

She hesitated outside the entrance, her feet refusing to move.

She _knew _she was breaking so many rules right that moment but, her anger was _over powering_.

She would take being expelled to _kill _Draco for the humiliation he bestowed by giving her that letter.

The only reason she knew the password to the Slytherin chambers was because of Ron, who had received it from her brother Percy, the prefect for Gryffindor.

How _he_ had received it was a mystery. But that was all irrelevant. The only thing that mattered right now was that Ron's big mouth and his suspicious brother would all contribute to Draco Malfoy's _death_.

She crawled over the painting's frame.

Her eyes widened at the unfamiliar colors and territory.

Dull grays and greens covered the room. It was so sad and gloomy, very unlike the Gryffindor common room.

But that was also all irrelevant.

She ushered forward, stopping at a long hallway of doors.

'_Thank you Ron and Harry for pretending to be Crabbe and Goyle._' She mentally thanked, sneaking forward to the last room on the left.

The door was already open. The possibility of him already leaving and having snuck past her grew largely.

She swallowed hard. Only one way to find out.

Hermione stealthily walked up to the room, peering around the door frame, holding onto it so she wouldn't accidently fall and give herself away.

Relief poured out of her when she saw he was still asleep and was buried underneath his covers.

Still, the fact he was still asleep only made her that much more late to class, what with also having to take time to murder him once she got him to wake up.

She had taken two steps into the room when she heard the clank of what sounded like a belt being handled.

She jumped back behind the doorframe when she saw Pansy Parkinson walk into her view, holding clothes and said belt.

Her curious eyes watched anxiously, hoping she could stay long enough to find out why Draco was late and _what _Pansy Parkinson was doing in his room _without _being discovered and expelled.

"Draco!" Hermione jumped at the harshness in Pansy's voice. Even though she was cold, Pansy was small and lady-like, very beautiful and the last person Hermione ever expected would yell.

Focusing on Pansy, Hermione noticed the clothes Pansy was carrying were Draco's clothes.

She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. Why was Pansy gathering Draco's clothes for him? What was she? His slave?

The lump underneath the Draco's dull gray and green Slytherin covers came to life and moved, responding to the harsh calling of Draco's name with a groan.

Hermione had to bite her tongue to stop the embarrassing smile that exploded on her face due to watching Draco's childish behavior.

She couldn't help it. Draco was always such a cold person and so mature-like. Even after spending some time with him and learning he could act human, this behavior surprised her.

It wasn't like he was ever that comfortable with her like he was with Pansy.

Actually, thinking about it, they did spend every second with each other. Even before Hermione had known Draco's name, he and Pansy had clicked together. Ever since their first year at Hogwarts, they were seen together. After all this time, she had been under the impression she was Draco's girlfriend.

But her suspicions had died out when their whole plan started. Now it was rising up again.

Could it be that she _was _Draco's girlfriend? Did she knew that Hermione and Draco had… had _kissed_?

Hermione's eyes squeezed together.

She had never liked Pansy to begin with but still, the last thing she wanted to be was a home wrecker.

But Draco had never mentioned she were his girlfriend… maybe they were just really close. Like she and Ron were before Lavender came along.

Hermione watched as Pansy crossed her arms, looking down at Draco curled up in his bed and frowned disapprovingly.

Hermione waited for the sharp scolding she knew would come from Pansy.

Even though she and Draco were both from similar families and seemed to act the same, Draco was capable of letting loose to his friends— or whatever Hermione was to him. Pansy seemed the opposite.

Hermione's tense shoulders loosened when she heard Pansy laugh. It was a dainty, small, lady-like laugh.

She watched as Pansy set Draco's clothes on the edge of his bed and then sat right next to them.

Hermione's face heated up at the thought of Pansy's back basically pressed against Draco's body. It heated up worse when she saw Pansy lean in closer to Draco and touch his face.

"Draco, wake up." She ordered softly, giving off small dainty chuckles.

Draco rolled over, pulling the covers from his face. He stared up at Pansy and then _smiled_.

Hermione backed away from the doorframe, slinking away so she couldn't see in his room anymore.

She had seen enough. Friends didn't act like that. Hermione had pulled the wrong things with the wrong boy. She had kissed Draco and he had been in love with Pansy.

But why did that hurt her? Sure she had partially forced Draco to cheat on Pansy but why did it hurt so much?

Why did _she_ feel so… betrayed? So jealous? Why did watching them be like that in front of her make her chest heave with pain? It felt like… watching Ron and Lavender.

Hermione stared at the ground. She could feel the humiliation rising from all the pain in her chest. She had skipped breakfast to get to the Slytherin common room so her stomach also felt bad. Her face burned.

She moved quickly but soundlessly out the Slytherin common room and out onto the stairs. She ran as fast as she could, what with having to wait for the stairs to align before she could use them.

Once she was farthest away and alone in the hallway, she reached into her robe and pulled out the envelope. She opened it, removing the ripped letter being held together with muggle tape.

* * *

><p><em>Dear Hermione Granger,<em>

_I cordially invite you to the Yule Ball._

_Draco Malfoy_

* * *

><p>She could never accept this letter. There was no way. Draco had some sort of ulterior motive.<p>

Her face burned with humiliation.

He didn't even like her. He had Pansy Parkinson.

No, the point of this letter had been to remind her that she had no one else to go with. It was meant to humiliate her and nothing more. And the worse part?

It worked.

* * *

><p>asdfghjkl; until next time, review!<p> 


	15. Dress

so excited for the upcoming chapters :3

* * *

><p><span>Chapter Fifteen<span>

Hermione stared out the window at the brilliant white.

Her body was flush against the old music room window, one of her legs bent up against the glass, the other leg swinging freely against her Gryffindor robes, the toes of her loafers grazing the old stone floor. Her head was resting against the glass, her hand holding up her chin was held up by the window frame. The blood red curtains were pulled away; still resting in the same position Draco had put them in.

After watching Pansy and Draco have eye _intercourse_, she had rushed to class, barely making it. Draco showed up not long after.

He was late but used the excuse that he had needed to talk to Snape and wasn't lectured for his tardy. He said Snape would vouch for him and sure enough, _he did_. Figures.

She had caught Draco trying to catch her eye several times during class but every time she looked in his direction and met his, she immediately glared and looked away.

She had avoided his gaze and then avoided him completely, escaping to spend her free period in the music room.

It was really stupid to hide from him here. She was actually surprised to not find him already here when she came.

It seemed involving herself with Draco in the first place, made him inescapable. Everywhere she went, he was there.

In person, in her mind, in her feelings.

It was quite tiring actually.

And to think he even had the nerve to try to involve himself even _more_… Hermione's fists clenched angrily.

Then she sighed and rested her head against the glass of the window.

Draco was making a fool out of more people than herself. He was at fault too.

Hermione pulled the newest Yule Ball invitation out, one she had received from Neville.

She read it over, biting her lip in frustration. Neville wasn't half the looker as Draco or Ron was but he was more gentlemanly.

She had seen him inviting several girls, including Ginny, but they had all declined it seemed.

It was kind of a sad thought, to think she had been even _Neville's_ seventh or eighth choice instead of his first or second.

Even so, the Yule Ball was a participation grade and it wasn't like she would take a zero over a one hundred. Going with Neville would be better than Draco or worse, _alone_. At least she received an invitation. A _real _one.

She had been sitting here staring out the window for an hour. Watching snow fall had seemed wonderful at first, but now gave her a headache.

She swung her legs away, cupping her hands underneath her legs and staring at the dark brown wooden door. She expected it to swing open and reveal Draco but of course, he did not show.

She tried to sort her feelings for everything.

Harry was her best friend.

Ron _was_ her best friend but now settled as her true, yet unrequited, love.

Lavender was terrible.

Neville was her date to the Yule Ball.

But what was Draco? He was her fake love. Someone she had dragged into her problems and tried to justify it as a payment. The bully she had gotten close to, kissed, hugged. The boy she thought she knew but turned out to be something else entirely. The dark, wealthy Slytherin she had gotten tangled in when _she_ tried to escape. He was inescapable. He was there. Everywhere.

Everything was Draco Malfoy now.

* * *

><p>Hermione walked into her room to see Lavender, Parvati, Ginny and Romilda all gathered in the room they shared. Even though they had been roommates for a while, it was very rare they were all in there when it wasn't morning or bed time.<p>

Her eyebrows scrunched in confusion. On each on their beds were cardboard boxes, similar in size but not exact. It took her a moment to realize why they would each be receiving boxes in the mail.

The vomit-worthy Yule Ball came up in her throat.

Walking closer, she saw Romilda had already opened hers. The rest were still working on ripping off the tape. Getting even closer, her eyes landed on a piece of dark red fabric resting beside the box Romilda had opened. With another rip, she turned and looked at Ginny just as she pulled out a blur of glittery gold.

Hermione could tell the dresses had been bewitched, the Gryffindor colors not being just a coincidence. McGonagall had already told them that they would be bewitched to match their partner's formal attire, making the ball much more elegant and organized.

Looking over to her bed, she saw a box for her too. She walked up to her box, arguing with herself whether to open it or not. The dress style would be the only surprise. Although finding out if she was going to wear gold or red wasn't too bad either.

She drew in a breath and began to rip the tape off as well, holding the new breath as she began making guesses for the type of dress her mother had picked out for her. After ripping off all the tape, she opened the flaps of the box.

She stared into it for a few moments, her breath refusing to exit her body. Her eyes froze open, taking in the damage at the bottom of the cardboard box.

Reaching in, her fingers touched the satin material. She took it between both hands, pulling it up and out.

The dress was unmistakably beautiful. It was long and ruffled and elegant, fancier than anything she had ever owned. It had a deep v-neck line. Chiffon fabric flowed down over the shoulders. A satin ribbon tied off in the middle and disappeared into more chiffon that surrounded the waist. The rest of the dress was ruffles. Admiring it, it boggled her mind to even _think _about how much her parents had paid for it.

But something was wrong.

It was not gold _or _red.

The dress was green. The most perfect shade of green to fit a… Her teeth clenched uncomfortably.

The satin torso was green, the chiffon a silver-white color.

Looking down into the box, she saw open toed, silver pumps, sequined so much that from afar, it looked like feathers. White diamonds rested atop the toe, glittering in the sun light streaming in from the window beside her bed. Looking inside the shoes, she could see glittering chains and diamonds, a jumbled mess of elegant jewelry that were too fancy to be recognized by her.

She blinked a few times, turning back to the putrid colored fabric in her hands, looking it up and down again. McGonagall had never said anything about first come first serve as opposed to invitations. So her dress should've been gold or red to match Neville's formal robes.

No. No. No. _No_. The fabric tightened in her hands as they crumpled into fists.

She would _not _go to the Yule Ball in this. It would be excruciatingly humiliating. The whole world would know who asked her to the ball originally, seeing as she only talked to one person who wore such a shade of color. Maybe a couple weeks ago, it wouldn't have been a big deal but now she wanted to clear her name. She wanted to forget she and Draco had even been together, falsely or not.

She clutched the dress, squeezing her eyebrows together as she examined it again.

* * *

><p>if you're wondering what hermione's dress looks like, it's just her regular dress she wore to the yule ball in the movies. just switch the purple for slytherin green and the chiffon for white, yeah. (: UNTIL NEXT TIMEEEE-<p> 


	16. Yule Ball

hahahaha im back hey

* * *

><p><span>Chapter Sixteen<span>

Hermione's eyes squeezed together, worried. She peered around the corner, attempting to take in the crowds of students waiting at the bottom of the stairs. She ducked back behind the safety of the wall, obvious failure painting an unwanted blush on her cheeks. She slowly peered out again, taking slow shallow breaths.

Unfamiliar male faces gathered at the bottom, carrying boxes with corsages, smiling at their lovely female dates as they made their way down the stairs dressed in elegant gowns of gold, blue, red, black, yellow, silver and green.

She would be doing the same if it wasn't for the fact she no longer had a date.

A day after she had received the putrid green dress, she had gone to Neville to tell him about it.

But before she could get any words out, he profusely apologized and admitted he had changed his mind and had decided to go with Ginny.

It turned out Harry had 'Potter Adventures' to attend in place of the dance and had inevitably left Ginny without a date in the process. She had been one of the girls Neville had asked and so Neville took it upon himself to fill in, hypocritically leaving Hermione to be the one left alone in the end.

But he used the excuse that she was '_so pretty, she'd find another date in no time'_.

And he was right. Hermione did actually have another date. The color of her elegant dress was the name tag for whom. It also reminded her that the certain someone was dead serious when they sent her that invitation.

She bit the inside of her cheek uncomfortably. A grade was more than _just _a grade to her. She did not have the option to go back to her room and sulk about how unfair her love life was. She was stuck with Draco Malfoy for the night it seemed.

She hesitated behind the corner for a few extra moments, squeezing her eyes shut ever so slightly as not to muss up her makeup, and rocked on her heels. Finally she sucked in a deep breath, plastered on a fake, confident smile, and walked out.

As soon as she reached the middle of the top of the stairs, she could feel it grow a bit quieter. She could feel eyes on her; see them out of the corner of her frozen stare.

The Slytherin colored dress glowed in the dim lights, the silver jewelry shone like stars. Her hair was pinned up, a couple strands free and fallen. Her sequined heels gently touched down on each stair step.

A single whisper reached her. Then a few more. They were all the same.

"Oh my god, she's so beautiful."

Then another.

"I wonder who managed to ask her out…"

And there he was.

Draco Malfoy.

He stepped out from the crowd of people, smirking up at her from the bottom of the stairs. He scanned her a few times as she slowly made her way down. She did the same.

He was wearing a formal robe, the matching green peeking out from underneath the black. His hair was gelled. Not so much that he looked like a child again but enough to make him look formal, even more so than usual.

She swallowed hard. He was definitely handsome.

She stepped off the last step, coming face to face with him.

Their gaze was not romantically hazy. More like a death stare between two enemies.

His eyes were narrowed smugly, hers narrowed in deep disdain.

Even though Hermione was caught up in Draco Malfoy's eyes, she was not oblivious to the attention they were getting.

It was not a secret that Draco Malfoy was the most muggle-blood hating person who attended Hogwarts. It was also not a secret that Hermione Granger was a muggle-blood who hated him back probably more than anyone else in the _world_.

They were the most unlikely couple to probably ever come to being. Two people who were made to hate one another.

A quiet crowd had gathered around the two opposites staring each other down.

Draco lifted the box containing the silver sparkly corsage stiffly, his eyes still locked on hers.

Hermione lifted a French tip manicured hand, props to a beauty spell book her mom had sent her in her Yule Ball package, up to level with the box, also keeping her eyes locked on his.

Finally he broke eye contact to look down at the corsage. Curiously, she followed his gaze.

She tightened her jaw to stop the gasp from escaping her mouth.

The corsage was beautiful. It contained a single white rose in the middle, surrounded by silver chiffon and sprinkled with glitter. Attached to the little ruffles of chiffon were, without a doubt, _real _diamond balls and pearls.

Much too expensive looking to be presented to someone he hated.

His hands gently and steadily slipped the luxurious corsage onto her slender wrist. Then he seemed to awkwardly move his hands aside cradle her wrist as they both continued to stare down.

Slowly they both looked up, meeting eyes again. This time, gentle and sincere.

One of his hands slid down to Hermione's, gently gripping the ends of her fingers between his and his thumb. He turned from her, leading her into the bright lights of the Yule Ball.

Tonight was going to be a _long _night.

* * *

><p>Hermione was not surprised when Draco immediately led her to a table rather than the dance floor where countless Hogwarts couples stood, holding each other dearly as they waltzed in time with the slow romantic song.<p>

Draco made some disgusted grunt right before he sat down, looking around to scoff at all the other students dancing before finally letting his gaze turn back to her.

Hermione sat rigid against her chair, her fingers splayed out over the white table cloth. She didn't want to be there. With him. In this dress. It was all wrong. What in the world was happening to everything?

Draco smirked, leaning back in his chair and letting his eyes wonder down till they stopped at the table.

"Nice dress." He almost purred, looking back at her.

Hermione quirked her head playfully, glaring daggers.

"Don't you just love this putrid shade of green?" Her voice barely above a whisper.

He adjusted himself in the seat, laughing to himself bitterly, crossing his arms across his chest.

"You didn't think I was serious when I gave you that invitation." He stated in realization.

Hermione's tough façade faltered.

"I still can't believe you were serious."

His expression faltered too.

"Well judging by the color of your dress, the money I paid for that corsage, and where we are tonight, you sort of have to." He said slowly, his tone a little hard.

She blinked slowly, her eyes falling on the table.

Suddenly, Draco placed his hand over one of hers.

She shifted, pulling her hands into her lap.

"Don't. I called off the deal. You can stop with this charm act."

"I just want to get this night over with." She muttered bitterly.

"Did we break up?" He asked in false hurt.

Her hands closed into fists, gripping the tablecloth. She leaned forward.

"You're unbelievable. You don't like me. I don't like you. I ended the deal. Why can't you just leave me alone? Why are you still playing these games?" She inquired.

It was suddenly really quiet.

Draco blinked. His head turned a little to the side. "You still don't like me?"

What?

Hermione's mouth opened slightly. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Draco straightened up in his chair. His eyes dropped to the tablecloth and his hand went up and touched his forehead, then dropped back down again.

Hermione regarded his actions. She had never seen him… She had never seen Draco look so… so… awkward. He was always so stoic and collected. Now he looked a little off. What just happened?

_You still don't like me? _What was that even supposed to mean? Of course she didn't. Right?

He was still horrible deep down. Sure he could act human sometimes but they didn't even know each other that well.

He laughed. It was a nervous laugh.

"I don't know I just thought— I mean when we used to hang out—" He stopped.

His eyebrows furrowed. His mouth closed into a tight line and he shook his head so slightly, she barely caught it.

"I guess I got a little caught up. I didn't think you'd leave altogether just because the deal was off."

"Draco?" Hermione asked quietly, utterly confused.

He got up.

"Ugh, what am I even doing?" He muttered. He walked off briskly, leaving Hermione staring after him, still sitting at the table.

* * *

><p>Hermione leaned against the punch table, taking small sips of her drink.<p>

Draco had been gone for a whole hour. The Yule Ball was only supposed to last for two hours, so it was already half over. Sure, she asked Draco to leave her alone but still, he was still her date for the night.

Here she was, all dolled up, drinking punch by herself in a corner.

She was still trying to process what had happened.

She swirled her drink in the little crystal cup.

Did… Did Draco miss her?

Her heart swelled.

It wasn't like the times they hung out were the best moments of her life. They were quite strange actually. For both of them. Or so she thought.

Her mind wandered back. They sure were a contrast for each other compared to their usual friends. Hermione wasn't a possessive little she-devil with perfect hair. Draco wasn't a sweet ginger boy who made her see stars.

But…

She had to admit. Being alone wasn't better than Hogsmeade with Draco, bickering and arguing. He was a challenge she was slowly winning. She had seen his insides. He wasn't as cold as she or anyone first thought.

God, she had kissed him! They had actually kissed. He had actually put his hands on her. A few years back, the thought would have never even crossed her mind.

He was right. No she didn't still hate him. They had exchanged too much for the hate to still exist.

No… her feelings were a mixture of good and bad. She couldn't give up. He needed her. He missed her, even if he was too good to admit.

And she had to admit to herself… being with him, as irritating as it was sometimes, was better than sitting in a corner by herself, waiting for Ron to love her.

"Excuse me, I'm speaking to you."

Her head whipped up. "Draco, I—"

She stopped when her eyes landed on olive green ones, framed by wisps of shiny brown hair.

Pansy.

Her chest constricted.

"What do you want?" She said in a low voice.

Pansy shook her hair out of her face.

"Draco. Where is he? I know you know. You stalk him like an idiot for some reason." Her eyes scanned Hermione's dress, the same color as hers.

"Did you buy that dress in that color? You must have. Draco certainly didn't ask you. And I don't think any other Slytherins like you either actually."

Hermione swallowed. "I don't know where he is."

Pansy smirked in annoyance. Then turned around and began walking off.

Hermione jumped up, her arms dropping to her sides.

"Pansy!" She called after her.

She stopped and turned, lifting her eyebrows.

"Your dress…" She studied the glossy green dress she had on.

"Who did you come with?"

Pansy blew out a puff of haughty air. "Who do you think? Draco, you idiot."

Then she walked off.

* * *

><p>Hermione walked stiffly, wanting to run and push through the crowds. But her feet were sore. The Yule Ball was drawing to a close. She needed to find Draco.<p>

Confused didn't even begin to explain her mess of thoughts.

Where was Draco? Was he okay? What was he thinking? Was she right about his feelings? Was she right about her own? But what about Pansy? Why was she wearing green?

He fingers clutched at her dress in anxiety. She pushed through dancing couples, her eyes straining to catch bright blonde hair.

Suddenly, she caught sight of it in the blur of people. Her eyes stopped on him until they panned out and saw he was clutching Pansy, moving in a slow circle in unison with the other students around him.

She stopped dead in the middle of the dance floor.

A strange feeling of dread settled in the pit of her stomach. It began to drop slower until she noticed the blank expression on Draco's face. Pansy's mouth was moving fast but she couldn't make any of it out.

Draco looked alarmed suddenly, and said something. But Pansy's mouth started moving again and his face dropped again. Then he burst away from her, making his way to one of the exits closest to him.

Pansy stood still, her face frozen, her hands still suspended in mid air embracing the space he once occupied.

Hermione quickly moved towards the exit, chasing after him.

* * *

><p>The Yule Ball had ended and students now embraced and exchanged kisses and retreated back to their rooms.<p>

Hermione pushed past the retreating students and walked out the exit Draco had taken. She found the exit led to one of Hogwart's vast gardens.

She looked around. It was completely empty.

She turned in a circle, searching. Then her eyes caught the bright blonde in the mixture of green.

She walked to him slowly, still unsure of what to say and how to word it.

Draco was sitting on a bench, his elbows on his knees, his face in his hands. Draco didn't stir as she got closer, making her wonder if he felt her presence.

She stopped right in front of him, looking down at him for a few silent moments.

Then she bent down and gently pulled his hands from his face, clutching them in hers. He didn't start so she knew he knew who she was and how long she'd been there.

She stroked his stiff fingers. They were wet. He had been crying.

She got down on her knees, sitting on the grass in front of him. She had no idea what to say so she just smiled weakly and spoke what came to mind.

"We've gotten ourselves into a mess haven't we?" She whispered.

Draco was dead silent. She was sure he was just as at a loss of words as she was. Hermione slowly looked up.

Then, Draco kissed her.


End file.
